Bet365 continued to stake its claim to be a top-five sports betting operator in Virginia, according to a fulfilled Freedom of Information Act request from Sports Handle by the Virginia Lottery.

The strategy by the England-based sportsbook to aggressively court bettors in the Old Dominion — bet365 offered $47.3 million in promotional credits and bonuses for users on its sports betting app spanning its first 12 months of operations — appears to have provided staying power. Bet365 was a solid fifth among the state’s 16 mobile sportsbooks, with $31.1 million handle, and was closer to fourth-place Caesars ($33.2 million) than sixth-place ESPN BET ($26.5 million).

Virginia’s $635.6 million handle for March ranked third in state history, as it also became one of just 10 states to surpass $15 billion in all-time wagering in the post-PASPA era.

Handle: $15,560,310,043
GGR/WR: $1,499,404,416/9.64%
AGR/WR: $1,111,295,480/7.14%
Taxes: $166,928,554

Recap: https://t.co/Sq4JYXzGln

7/7 #SportsBettingX #GamblingX

— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) May 1, 2024

During its first 12 months, bet365 had a peak adjusted gross revenue deficit of $4.5 million through October wagering. The combination of easing promotional spend in the fall — bet365 lavished $3.6 million in credits and bonuses in September but only $1.6 million in its last month of claiming deductions in January — and strong monthly winnings allowed it to quickly wipe out that deficit.

March was the fourth consecutive month bet365 had a double-digit hold, reaching 12% as it collected $3.7 million in gross sports betting revenue from $31.1 million worth of wagers. Even with nearly $1.3 million in deductions, including the federal excise tax and voided bets, it still finished with an all-time high of $2.4 million in AGR.

That was more than enough to zero out its outstanding balance of $734,685, resulting in its first tax payment to the state since taking its first wagers in January 2023. Bet365 finished with $1.7 million in taxable revenue for March, which meant $256,124 went to the Commonwealth.

FanDuel took the top spots for both gross revenue and handle, with $23 million and $257.5 million, respectively. The latter also pushed the online leviathan above $6 billion in all-time handle in Virginia, while its 8.9% hold represented a low for 2024.

DraftKings had a more modest 7.1% win rate to claim $12.6 million from $176.3 million worth of bets. It was the seventh straight month DraftKings had an eight-figure revenue haul as total winnings eclipsed $300 million.

BetMGM took the final podium spots for revenue ($4.1 million) and handle ($69.1 million), though the 5.9% hold was the lowest monthly win rate known when excluding the months of June through September 2021. It was also nearly five percentage points lower than March 2023 when it reaped $7.1 million in winnings.

Despite finishing fourth in handle, Caesars narrowly held off BetRivers for the No. 6 spot in revenue, winning just $684,600 thanks to a 2.1% hold. It was the seventh straight month Caesars failed to reach the 7% industry standard and had a 3.7% hold for the first quarter in claiming $3.9 million in revenue from $106.4 million in handle.

ESPN BET slotted into fifth for revenue with $1.4 million, crafting a 5.4% hold. Though handle rose marginally from February, the $26.5 million was still nearly double that of PENN Entertainment predecessor Barstool Sportsbook in March 2023.

BetRivers, Fanatics Sportsbook, and Hard Rock Bet were bunched fairly close together for the Nos. 7-9 spots for handle. BetRivers had a 5.7% win rate from $11.2 million in wagers to collect $633,600, while Fanatics had a 2.5% hold in claiming $270,000 from $10.8 million in handle.

Hard Rock Bet had a 5.8% hold in winning $534,700 from $9.2 million in wagers, but its $29.6 million in handle for the first quarter of 2024 is nearly triple its $11.1 million from the opening three months of 2023. The $1.9 million in gross revenue is already 70% of its $2.6 million attained in all of 2023.

Virginia’s three brick-and-mortar sportsbooks combined for a 9.2% hold on $5.9 million in wagers, resulting in $542,500 in revenue. Hard Rock provided nearly half that total as the Bristol-based venue had a 13.5% win rate in keeping $240,000 of the $1.8 million wagered.

Rivers Casino in Portsmouth was tops in handle at $2.7 million and had a 6.9% win hold to claim $189,700 in revenue. Caesars in Danville had an 8% win rate, keeping $112,800 of the $1.4 million wagered in March.