September was an incredible bounce-back month for West Virginia sportsbooks. After hitting a lull for a while, they generated more than $45 million in overall handle during the four-week period.
Of course, the start of the NFL and college football played a major role in taking more bets.
Last month’s handle more than doubled August’s output of around $22 million.
This is a great sign for the Mountain State sports betting market. It hadn’t seen over $30 million in monthly handle since March.
That’s also the last time WV sportsbooks accepted more than $40 million in wagers in a month.
Football betting is certainly the most popular in the region; however, these results are still somewhat surprising. After not reaching $10 million in weekly bets for 24 consecutive weeks, books did so three separate times in September.
In fact, the handle increased each week, totaling over $13 million to close out the month. This should be a positive sign moving forward.
Along with the rise in betting came a significant jump in revenue. WV sportsbooks earned more than $6 million over the course of the month, essentially tripling profits from the last two reports.
Most impressive, they made at least $1.1 million every week, with two weeks exceeding $1.6 million.
Let’s check out September’s betting figures more thoroughly.
WV Sports Betting Handle, September 2021
The more than $45 million wagered was a 105% increase compared to August. With the betting trend going upward, it’s possible these figures will continue getting larger.
WV online sportsbooks accounted for almost $35 million of the total in September. That is around 76% overall, which is up about 2% from the month prior.
The online platforms combined for more than $10 million in handle for the week of Sept. 25, for the first time in over six months. They also saw a steady climb in bets during each week.
As for the individual sportsbooks in the Mountain State, Hollywood Casino led the way again this month with nearly $21 million. Its handle more than doubled from last month, creating a bigger gap between itself and The Greenbrier.
The private resort also had substantial growth in September, topping $17 million.
Of course, both retail establishments received plenty of assistance from their online apps.
Hollywood’s combination of DraftKings WV Sportsbook and PointsBet Sportsbook WV almost reached $15 million in handle.
Despite coming up a little short for the month, The Greenbrier’s duo of FanDuel WV and BetMGM WV Sportsbook took more online wagers, with around $17 million.
Both shared five weeks total with at least $4 million in bets.
The Mountaineer finished third with slightly over $5 million in handle. It accepted nearly seven figures throughout the month but came up just short in the opening week.
Its online option, Caesars WV, had a quality showing too. Its handle exceeded $2 million last month.
Mardi Gras finished fourth, taking about $1.6 million in wagers. It beat out its sister property, Wheeling Island, by a decent-sized margin this time around.
Wheeling came in at just $775,000 in handle.
The Betly Sportsbook services both places for online betting. The platform saw about $700,000 for Mardi Gras, while Wheeling was closer to $105,000.
WV Sports Betting Revenue, September 2021
WV sportsbooks’ revenue swelled even more than the monthly handle based on percentage. The over $6 million in September was a 202% increase from the previous month.
Online sportsbooks contributed slightly over $3.1 million in earnings. They generated more than $650,000 each week, peaking at around $930,000 to finish the month.
The last time the online apps hit this mark for a single week was in March.
Hollywood Casino and The Greenbrier separated themselves from the others thanks to two mobile licenses apiece.
Hollywood led all others with about $2.9 million in revenue this September. This was a difference of roughly $1 million from The Greenbrier’s performance of around $1.9 million.
It earned at least $650,000 each week, while Hollywood’s online platforms totaled about $1.2 million. DraftKings and PointsBet recorded one week with only $15,000, while the remainder of the others were a minimum of $365,000.
The Greenbrier’s BetMGM and FanDuel were responsible for the majority of the overall revenue, with over $1.8 million.
Hollywood’s current edge is strictly from its retail revenue. It will be interesting to see if its online combination catches up to the two more established books at The Greenbrier.
Mountaineer is next, with more than $650,000 in September revenue. Its earnings improved by around $500,000 despite the fact that it had one week in the red.
This quality showing is due in large part to the over $240,000 in profits from each of the month’s first two weeks.
Its Caesars app lost more than $65,000 for the week of Sept. 18; however, it still managed around $9,500 in total earnings.
Mardi Gras finished with about $315,000 overall, compared to Wheeling Island at $175,000.
Their Betly option netted just shy of $40,000 for Mardi Gras and $20,000 for Wheeling.
