The West Virginia online gaming market had a major spike to end 2021.

The state’s iGaming handle for December was $280,448,898, a 41.5% increase from the $198,162,303 in November.

The online gaming revenue for the final month of 2021 was $8,685,563, up 46.6% from November’s $5,926,361, according to figures from the West Virginia Lottery.

The Mountain State reports its numbers weekly instead of monthly. December’s numbers cover the period from Nov. 28 to Jan. 1; November covers Oct.31-Nov. 27. The week ending on Christmas Day saw the highest handle of any week in 2021, with players wagering $60.5 million. In fact, that was the highest weekly handle since the state launched online gaming in summer 2020.

The state made $1.3 in privilege tax in December from real money online gaming, and more than $8.2 million for 2021.

For 2021, the first full year of online gaming in the state, the total handle exceeded $2 billion and the revenue was more than $61.6 million.

West Virginia iGaming Breakdown

The Greenbrier led West Virginia casinos in handle for December at $132.9 million as well as revenue, at $4.3 million. The resort is paired with BetMGM Casino in the state.

Coming in second for the month was Hollywood Casino at Charles Town, partnered with DraftKings Casino, with handle of $114.4 million and $3.26 million in revenue.

The other online casino option in West Virginia is Mountaineer Casino, which partners with BetRivers Casino. That facility pulled in $33 million in wagers and $1.1 million in revenue last month.

West Virginia Sports Betting Falls

The December sports betting total handle in the state was $74,517,005, down 10.3% from November’s record total of $83.1 million. The December total was a 6.2% increase in a year-to-year comparison with December 2020 ($70.1 million).

WV Sports Betting Handle & Revenue, December vs. November

Total handle

Mobile handle

Revenue

December

$74.517M

$59.760M

$6.177M

November

$83.098M

$68.178M

$6.285M

Change

Down 10.3%

Down 12.3%

Down 1.7%

Note: West Virginia reports numbers weekly rather than by calendar month. December represents Nov. 28 to Jan. 1; November represents Oct.31-Nov. 27. 

Mobile sports betting accounted for $59.8 million in handle, or about 80.2 percent of the total. That was down 12.3% from November’s $68.2 million, which also was a record in the state.

The sports betting revenue fell 1.7%, from $6.28 million in November to $6.18 million in December. The state’s share of taxes fell by the same percentage, from $534,214 in November to $525,066 in 2021’s final month.

For the calendar year, the state reported about $561 million in sports betting handle and about $46.4 million in revenue.

State’s Gaming Options Growing

The options in West Virginia continue to increase as the market matures.

In November, WynnBet announced that it would pair with Delaware North, a company with two gaming facilities in West Virginia, for online gaming. The company owns Mardi Gras Casino and Resort in Nitro and Wheeling Island Casino and Racetrack in Wheeling.

And Wazdan, which is based in Malta but is growing its U.S. operations, also announced its entry into the West Virginia iGaming market in November. The company is scheduled to launch in the state, as well as in New Jersey, in the first quarter of 2022.