Virginians wagered $485.5 million on sports events in the month of January, which marked the one-year anniversary of legal sports betting in the Commonwealth.

The betting volume in January was a new record, surpassing the $427.3 million in wagers placed in October, according to data released by the Virginia Lottery on Wednesday.

“Five weekends of football, which included an extra week of regular season football and an expanded NFL playoffs, were unquestionably a boon for sportsbooks in January,” said Dann Stupp, lead analyst at PlayVirginia.com. “Sportsbooks will begin to slow down after March Madness. But the industry made a giant leap forward during the football season, and that has it on solid footing for the year ahead.”

Sportsbooks won $39.1 million in gross revenue, second-best all-time for Virginia and up from $31.5 million in December. After $16.9 million in promotional spending and $4.0 million in other deductions, sportsbooks produced $18.2 million in taxable revenue. That yielded $2.9 million in state taxes.

Betting volume has more than doubled since Virginia launched sports betting on Jan. 21, 2021. During the market’s first 11 days, sportsbooks generated $5.4 million in wagers per day, generating $3.6 million in revenue on $58.9 million in January 2021.

The daily wagering average grew to $15.7 million per day over the 31 days of January 2022.

“Virginia’s sportsbooks still have significant room for growth,” said Eric Ramsey, an analyst for the PlayUSA.com Network, which includes PlayVirginia.com. “Over the last five months, operators have continued to expand their reach to new customers. But just as important, individual bettors are wagering more than a year ago as they become more familiar with the myriad products online sportsbooks are offering.”

Story by Chris Graham

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Editor Chris Graham talks sports betting in Virginia