Virginia Online Sports Betting

Virginia is mostly an anti-gaming state but does allow gamblers legal DFS competitions, a state lottery, online and off-track horse racing betting, some limited charitable gambling options and a home poker carve out under the law.

Virginia maintains a liberal and easy to manage 18-years-of-age age limit on all its legal forms of gambling.

Sports bettors in Virginia have legal sports betting options in the form of horse and greyhound racing and DFS, where they can test and hone their sports betting skills without fear of punitive repercussions or breaking any state gambling laws.

However, any further form of sports betting such as betting on the Baltimore Orioles, The Washington Capitals, Nationals or Redskins is strictly prohibited (for the time being at least).

There have been no attempts by the State’s Legislators in Virginia to legalize sports betting in the past, however, there is some reason to be optimistic that it may happen soon. Several independent sources list Virginia as one of the states most likely to legalize sports betting within two years of the Supreme Court ruling against PASPA in May 2018. We will keep you up to date as the legal sports betting story unfolds in Virginia.

Online sports betting is currently unavailable in the Old Dominion State of Virginia.

In 2011, Bills H1584, HB 1700, and S 1195 were passed by the Virginia State Legislature. The snapshot outcome of these bills made it illegal to operate or play at an online gambling site based offered in the state by redefining illegal gambling to include internet gambling.

Online sports betting will need to cross the legal hurdle of undoing these gambling laws before the practice can be offered in Virginia.

For the time being, however, Virginia sports bettors can place bets online for horse and greyhound racing or online DFS competitions.

Moreover, Games of Skill are also exempt from Virginia’s strict gambling laws under section § 18.2-333 of the State Statutes and can be legally played by online players. The law states;

‘Nothing in this article shall be construed to prevent any contest of speed or skill between men, animals, fowl or vehicles, where participants may receive prizes or different percentages of a purse, stake or premium dependent upon whether they win or lose or dependent upon their position or score at the end of such contest.’

U.S. Federal lawmakers have uniformly decided that Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) competitions are not reckoned to be gambling, and they are actually games of skill.

Virginia was quick to act following the Federal ruling and legalized DFS in 2016 under the State’s Fantasy Contests Act that was signed into law by State Governor Terry McAuliffe. The bill requires DFS sites to protect players by:

• Registering with the state and to pay a $50 000 registration fee.
• Prohibiting anyone under the age of 18 from participating in DFS competitions,
• Prohibiting employees from competing in real money contests and sharing confidential information, and;
• Providing a gateway for customers to exclude themselves from playing in DFS competitions if required.

Once sports betting is legalized in Virginia, eSports will become a trusted and ‘family-friendly’ form of sports betting untarnished by the murky past of illegal sports betting in the state.

eSports – What is it?

eSports (video game play at the highest professional level) has transformed competitive gaming betting.

With its roots in the LAN gaming ‘underground’ communities of the late ‘90s and early 2000s, respectability, marketability and popularity of eSports has followed.

Today, it has become a full-fledged billion-dollar industry, and an official network of professional gaming tournaments and leagues playing games like Rocket League, Overwatch, Dota 2 and Fortnite. With each passing tournament, the prizes get richer and viewership increases.

Naturally, when money is there to be made, sports-bettors follow.

A global gambling scene has developed in eSports, with a full range of international bookmakers framing betting markets on the major network of global eSports tournaments.
Rather than creating a dark underground economy in Virginia, legalized betting on eSports could well assist in easing the sports betting legalization process in the state, and thereby adding to the state’s tax revenues to pay for infrastructure projects and improved state services like health, education and aged care services.

Ironically, placing wagers at racetracks is one of the forms of legal gambling in Virginia, however, the state’s last live track closed in 2014. Applications to hold a legal horse race in the State of Virginia can be placed through the Virginia Racing Commission.

Horse and Greyhound racing betting can only be conducted online in Virginia and a number of off-track betting facilities.

Trackside Betting

Racetrack betting in Virginia is legal, but the last live racetrack in the state closed in 2014 after operating for an amazing 260 years plus.

Off Track Betting (OTB) in Virginia

Betting is permitted in Virginia at a number of designated OTB branches, along with electronic kiosks in bars, taverns and restaurants for limited betting on simulcast horse races.

Online Horse Racing in Virginia

Horse Racing Betting Online is readily available to Virginia’s visitors and residents. Online racebooks available for legal betting are all easy to access and you may bet online directly from your tablet, phone, other mobile device or home computer.

Visitors and residents of Virginia can find attractive online odds on thoroughbred racing in the U.S. and all major horse racing venues worldwide.

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