Virginia finalizes sports betting regulations

The most noteworthy of the regulations that will be in place is the prohibition of betting on sporting events involving Virginia’s college teams.

“Under the legislation, betting will be permitted on most major league and college sports, although not on games featuring Virginia college and university teams,” said Virginia Lottery Executive Director Kevin Hall said in an email to media outlets. “Consumers will be able to place wagers on professional sports, certain college sports, and other sporting events, as well on the performance of individual athletes.”

Now that regulations have been adopted, the next step is the licensing process. According to local media, the state plans to award between four to 12 licenses to operators and accept applications from October 15-31.

Those licenses will cost an initial $50,000 fee and will cost $250,000 renewal fees. Operators will be forced to pay a 15 percent tax on gross revenue. Customers must be at least 21 years of age and physically located in the state of Virginia. If all goes well, Virginians could be betting sports in 2021. Virginia passed legislation last April that allowed certain cities to vote on whether to build brick-and-mortar casinos within its borders. The legislation also legalized sports betting and put the Virginia Lottery in charge of regulating the market.

Since it will be years before casinos will be erected, and there is no guarantee the electorate will vote for them to be built, the state opted to legalize online sports betting as well, which is how the state’s market will operate when it first launches.