The West Virginia sports betting market endured its worst showing in a long time. Mountain State sportsbooks accepted just $28 million in wagers during the month of April.
This is a significant drop-off of around $15 million from March.
The $28 million in wagers is the slowest month since July 2020, when the majority of sports hadn’t returned from COVID-19 postponements.
While sports betting figures in WV aren’t overly impressive of late, they did exceed $57 million just a few months ago, in December.
The WV online sportsbooks were responsible for around $21 million of the total handle, while retail brought in only about $7 million.
Retail figures haven’t been this low since retail locations reopened last summer.
The poor month for sportsbooks led to a disappointing performance in regard to revenue, too. WV sportsbooks generated almost $2.2 million in earnings for April.
Again, this is a massive reduction compared to last month. Books netted about $1.7 million more in March.
Online platforms accounted for the overwhelming majority of the month’s revenue. They earned nearly $1.8 million of the total.
Let’s take a deeper look at April’s revenue report and see how the individual sportsbooks fared.
WV sports betting handle for April 2021
It was a rough month for sports betting in the Mountain State. Despite there being plenty of MLB, NBA and NHL games to bet on, there wasn’t a lot of action over the course of the four weeks.
The state’s overall handle never exceeded $8 million in a single week. It did so for 33 straight weeks prior to April.
Even though online platforms did better than retail sportsbooks, they also saw a decrease in betting. Their total from April was about $11 million shy of March’s handle.
Overall, betting was down 34% from last month.
The Greenbrier led the way for the month with just over $12.4 million in handle. Its combination of FanDuel Sportsbook WV and BetMGM WV Sportsbook brought in around 94% of this total, with more than $11.6 million.
Hollywood Casino was a very close second in April with over $11.7 million.
Although it features just one online app, DraftKings WV Sportsbook, the book accepted more than $8 million in the month.
Hollywood’s retail establishment had three weeks below the $1 million mark; however, its handle almost reached $3.7 million.
Mountaineer placed third with around $2.4 million in sports wagers. This is a huge decline from last month, when it was near $9.3 million.
Its William Hill WV app was responsible for only $840,000 this month. There was one specific week that boosted its showing from March, but the online book did see more than $7 million in handle last report.
The Mardi Gras Casino finished fourth, with its sister property at Wheeling Island coming in last. Mardi Gras topped $1 million, whereas Wheeling was closer to $425,000 in bets.
Their online platform, betly Sportsbook, took in around $290,000 in handle for Mardi Gras and $58,000 for Wheeling.
Perhaps the start of the postseason in both the NBA and NHL will drive more betting action.
WV sports betting revenue for April 2021
The state didn’t have a great showing in terms of revenue, either. The about $2.2 million in profits were a 44% decrease from March.
After making more than $1 million on two separate occasions last month, sportsbooks failed to break $900,000 in a week. Their best performance came during the week of April 3, when they earned over $890,000.
Weekly revenue dropped below $500,000 twice, though, with just about $195,000 in the final week.
Online revenue also struggled somewhat. It had two weeks with less than $400,000 in earnings. This was the first time they’ve been that low since Feb. 20.
Although it didn’t take the most wagers, Hollywood Casino was first for monthly revenue. It brought in over $1.3 million in earnings.
Hollywood’s retail book and DraftKings were just about even when comparing production. The retail sportsbook made around $665,000, while the online app was at $675,000.
The Greenbrier took second for revenue. It earned over $480,000 in April, in spite of losing more than $290,000 in the final week.
In fact, the private resort’s online options accounted for all of the profits, as its retail sportsbook was in the red. It lost over $500,000 last month.
Mountaineer finished third with slightly more than $180,000. Its William Hill app contributed around $65,000 in revenue to the total.
Mardi Gras was next with about $155,000 in profits, with Wheeling Island just shy of $35,000.
Their betly app returned over $30,000 to Mardi Gras and nearly $10,000 to Wheeling.
It will be interesting to see if WV sportsbooks can bounce back with stronger betting figures next month.