The West Virginia Lottery Commission filed rules for public comment for sports betting with a 30-day public comment period ending September 9. Meanwhile the state’s five casinos can now submit sports betting license applications at $100,000 each. If approved, they’ll pay a 10 percent tax on revenue. Each of the five casino licensees can deploy up to three individually branded platforms.
Sports betting will be legal both on-site and across online and mobile channels. To ensure gambling operators only are taking wagers from bettors located within West Virginia, Lottery officials recently granted the state’s first interim sports betting license to GeoComply Solutions of Vancouver. In essence, GeoComply will build a virtual fence along the state’s borders; bettors who cross that imaginary line will lose access to West Virginia sportsbooks.
GeoComply Vice President Regulatory Affairs Lindsay Slader said ensuring a sports bet is a legal, intrastate transaction is critically important. “A robust and optimized geolocation solution is essential for securing the integrity of a sports wagering system from a legal and compliance perspective, from a brand integrity perspective and from a consumer usability standpoint.”
GeoComply’s interim license will be in effect for 270 days while the West Virginia Lottery defines the process for obtaining a full license. West Virginia Lottery Managing General Counsel Danielle Boyd said, “With the recent repeal of PASPA, we have set a very aggressive timeline for introducing sports wagering in the state, and are happy to have GeoComply show its readiness to support our launch in time for the new NFL season.”
Boyd said the state anticipates benefiting from a regional monopoly on sports betting for the immediate future. Only neighboring Pennsylvania has legalized sports betting but so far no casinos there have been willing to pay the $10 million license fee or 36 percent sports betting tax. Although the initial revenue projections for sports betting revenue are fairly low, Boyd said sports betting will bring visitors to West Virginia to place wagers, either at the casinos or other venues. “These people are going to buy dinner, they’re going to buy drinks, they’re going to stay overnight, and they’re going to help the local economy,” she said. The lottery expects to collect $5.5 million from sports betting operations during the 2019 fiscal year.
Boyd said Hollywood Casino in Charles Town received an interim license and will be the first casino to offer sports betting. “It is our understanding that Hollywood Casino in Charles Town will accept wagers by September 1, and two other properties should be ready to do the same sometime in early September as well,” she said. Boyd added Hollywood Casino plans to install betting software on August 21 and will conduct employee training August 29-31.
“We had hoped everyone would launch at the same time and everyone would be up at the beginning of football season. As we move forward, it appears that we’re going to have sort of a phased launch and it’s going to be a tiered approach,” Boyd said.
Owned by Penn National Gaming, Hollywood Casino is the largest in the state and located near Harper’s Ferry, less than an hour drive from Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. Hollywood recently entered into a pending supplier partnership with William Hill to offer retail, mobile and online sports betting.
FanDuel, owned by Ireland-based Paddy Power Betfair, recently received an interim license as a management services provider for the Greenbrier at White Sulphur Springs. FanDuel will offer retail and mobile sports betting under the property’s casino license. IGT also received an interim license with the Greenbrier as a supplier. A launch date for sports betting there has not been established.
West Virginia Gaming and Racing Association President John Cavacini said Delaware North, operator of Mardi Gras casino in Nitro and Wheeling Island casino, will begin signing up players for sports betting accounts in early September. “They’ll probably be ready to actually take bets by the third week to the fourth week of September,” he said. The launch date for the Mountaineer Casino in Chester has not been announced.
Kambi also has said it is working toward a license in West Virginia.
