West Virginia online sports betting laws

As opposition to the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) grew during the last decade, West Virginia led the charge along with New Jersey. A bill to authorize sports betting at casinos in West Virginia was tabled in 2017. Further legislative efforts were launched the following year. The state legislature passed one of those bills, S415, which became law in the state in March 2018. Two months later, the Supreme Court ruled that PASPA was unconstitutional.

Each state was thus free to introduce sports betting if it wished and West Virginia certainly did. Hollywood Casino struck the first bet in August 2018, and by the end of the year all five casinos in the state had active sportsbooks.

Just before the end of the year, West Virginia online betting went live as it became the third state, after Nevada and New Jersey to empower people to bet through websites and mobile devices. By January 2021, the total monthly handle for West Virginia was approximately $51 million. The state calculates that the overwhelming majority of bets were placed online.

Five online sportsbooks are now operational for West Virginia online betting fans. They are offered by some of the biggest and best names in the global betting industry, including DraftKings, William Hill, and BetMGM. You don’t have to attend a casino in person to open an account. The registration process can be completed remotely, although it’s essential you don’t disable any geolocation tools on your desktop or mobile device. Your chosen sportsbook will use that same technology to check your location regularly while you are using its facilities.

You have to be within state lines when placing a bet. Though you don’t have to be a West Virginia resident; people from neighboring states where online betting is not allowed may cross the border and join in.

The number of sports wagering licenses issued by the West Virginia Lottery Commission is capped at five, to match the total number of casinos in the state. However, each casino can partner with multiple online partners, so it is feasible that West Virginia online sports betting customers will have even more sportsbooks to choose from in the near future.

Running a sportsbook in West Virginia is extremely attractive. The state tax on retail and online betting gross gaming revenue is only 10 percent, one of the lowest rates around. It certainly compares favorably with neighboring Pennsylvania, where the equivalent tax runs at 36 percent.

Yes, they certainly are. Betting winnings are viewed by the IRS as taxable income, and it is your duty to declare it. It is highly advisable to keep a close record of all your betting winnings. Even if your sportsbook does not issue you with a form W-2G showing your winnings, a copy will be sent to the IRS.

Even though West Virginia has taken an exceptionally open approach to the legalization of sports betting, the law is still firm on this. You must be aged 21 or more to bet on sports in the state.

West Virginia has made it easy to sign up as a sportsbook customer in the state. You don’t have to attend a casino in person to register for an account. However, you are allowed to partake in West Virginia online betting only if you are physically located within state lines. Geolocation technology used by modern sportsbooks will check regularly that you are complying with this rule while you use the sportsbook. Please bear this in mind when you access West Virginia betting sites or apps - don’t disable any location technology you have on your device.

West Virginia’s two sportsbooks prohibit employees of a casino from placing a sports bet at that casino – or on any online platform run by it.

West Virginia has been exceptionally liberal when it comes to sports betting. There are no restrictions on wagering on college sports and esports, such as you see in many other states. But betting on politics is a no-no. West Virginia’s Lottery famously fell foul of a 19th-century state law banning betting on politics when it briefly offered odds on the 2020 US presidential election. The wagers were posted for about 15 minutes before the West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner, shut things down, citing the state law.