Weekly News – 12/29/2020

Chris Altman Sports Betting Expert

5 minute read

THE WEEK IN LEGAL SPORTS BETTING - TENNESSEE AND COLORADO SEE RECORD NUMBERS

December 29th, 2020 Weekly Report

It’s the last week of 2020, so you know what that means! It is the final roundup for legal sports betting news for the year 2020. As some states race to make moves before the year is out, you will want to know how to prepare for sports betting in 2021.

CONTENTS

• Major Movement in Virginia
• Colorado Record Month
• Great Start in Tennessee
• 2020 Conclusions

STATES LOOKING TO MAKE MOVES: VIRGINIA LEGAL SPORTS BETTING

Virginians should be excited for legal sports betting in the year 2021. The state legislature in the state of Virginia passed two different sweeping gaming bills last year. One gave authorization to Virginia casinos. The other bill legalized Virginia sports betting across the state.

While casino gaming and casinos themselves in Virginia are poised to take a little longer to come to fruition, sports betting is on the docket to come sooner. It is expected that online sportsbooks through mobile devices could be launched in the state as early as January 2021. This would give Virginians the chance to bet on such major sporting events as the Super Bowl.

On October 15th of this past year, the Virginia Lottery launched its sports betting application period, which was open through October 31st, 2020 — Halloween. And, the Virginia Lottery gives themselves 90 days to comb through those submitted applications. Given that ninety day deadline, it is expected that the first online sportsbooks could launch in the state in mid-January.

The Lottery in the state has been extremely hush-hush about the whole application process in Virginia. But, last month the state’s Lottery did confirm that twenty five applications had come in for legal sports betting in the state. Though, none of the applicants have been confirmed by the Virginian state Lottery. However, there are some clear applicants that we can assume submitted themselves for the process.

Now, out of those twenty five applications, we expect only around half will receive licenses. At this time, the law allows for four to twelve licenses to be granted by the state. Five of those licenses will basically be earmarked for casino operators in Virginia. So, that means that around four to seven mobile licenses would be left for the picking. It is also expected that sports franchises will be eying sports betting licenses as well. For instance, WynnBET sportsbook has indicated a want for NASCAR tracks to be included because the company signed a multi-year deal making them the official online sportsbook of the two tracks in the state of Virginia.

It is widely accepted that DraftKings Sportsbook, BetMGM, ZenSports, and theScore Bet all applied for licenses in the state of Virginia. And, PointsBet has also indicated an interest in joining the Virginia sports betting market as well. In addition, there are three confirmed Virginia casino operators who are likely to get licenses. These are Hard Rock, Caesars (via William Hill), and Rush Street (through BetRivers.) Plus, there is the Pamunkey Native American Tribe who has yet to confirm who its partner will be for their casino in Norfolk.

And, it is also expected that Handle 19, US Bookmaking, and FanDuel Sportsbook have also thrown their hats into the ring. So, that brings the total of assumed applicants to eleven. This leaves fourteen more applicants that are open for debate, assuming all eleven of the other applicants actually applied.

COLORADO SPORTS BETTING SEES RECORD GAINS

Colorado sports betting hit new heights in the month of November with an astounding $231 million in recorded bets. The figures, which were released by the Colorado Department of Revenue’s Division of Gaming show a $20 million gain from October. In October, the state saw $210 million in recorded bets. So, that shows a month per month increase of around ten percent.

The sportsbook operators in the state gained a gross gaming revenue of $18.3 million. And, the state of Colorado itself was able to collect almost eight hundred thousand dollars in taxes on this revenue from sports betting. In fact, everything except $4.3 million worth of bets was generated by online sports betting in the state.

So, you may be wondering what types of events generate the most bets in Colorado. The state saw large amounts of betting activity associated with the NFL season as well as the college football season.

NFL betting accounted for around eighty eight million dollars of betting in the state during the month. NCAA betting accounted for around twenty two million dollars of betting in the state during the month. Surprisingly, table tennis came in third in the state, with over twelve million dollars bet on the sport in the month.

TENNESSEE SPORTS BETTING STARTS STRONG

With the launch of online sports betting in the state of Tennessee in November, many were curious how wagering in the state would fare. But, even with only four legal sports betting operators working in the state, Tennessee made U.S. sports betting history. The state saw the best first month of legal sports betting in any state in United States history.

The launch of legal Tennessee online sports betting saw $131.4 million in November, the first month sports betting was legal in the state. The revenue from sports betting was around $13.2 million. This amount gave the state a boon of $2.4 million in taxes. Most states needed to build over the course of a few months to reach $100 million in bets after launching.

The state of Tennessee had help from the fact that it launched in the middle of the NFL season. And, this particular season saw the Tennessee Titans squaring off for the AFC South title. Plus, the state of Tennessee also sees a boon from the fact that it is the only state in the region that has legal mobile sports betting. That is, until the state of Virginia launches early next year.

But, as of this writing, of the seven states that border Tennessee, only two have legal sports betting — Arkansas and Mississippi. However, both of these states only have retail sportsbooks available. It will be interesting to see how the state fares when Virginia throws its hat into the ring in early 2021.

SPORTS BETTING WRAP UP 2020

The year 2020 saw new states launching their legal sports betting programs. And, 2021 is set to see even more states offer their own legal sports betting options. With the boon from taxes that states with legal sports betting have seen, we can expect many states to look into the sports betting market next year. So, come back for more updates as they happen in the year 2021! Happy New Year, sports bettors!

Chris Altman

Chris Altman is a sports betting writer and content expert with almost a decade of experience. He's covered everything, but his current focus is on reviewing sportsbooks and online casinos and keeping tabs on sports betting legislation. Chris has been with VegasInsider since 2019 and has freelanced in the sports betting content industry for years. More from Chris Altman