Golden Nugget Launches in Virginia, Its Ninth Online Sportsbook to Go Live

• On Wednesday, Golden Nugget Online Launched in Virginia
• Golden Nugget Becomes Ninth Online Sportsbook to Go Live in Virginia
• Oct. VA Lottery Board Meeting Could include Update on Five Licenses Still Available

On Wednesday, Golden Nugget Online Launched in Virginia

After over two months of delays, Golden Nugget Online finally launched on Wednesday morning in Virginia making it the ninth online sportsbook to begin taking wagers in that state.

Back in March, three more sports betting operators were approved – Golden Nugget, Barstool Sportsbook, and Bally Bet – with Barstool launching on August 10 and Bally Bet looking towards the end of this year or the beginning of 2022 for its opening day.

The original Golden Nugget Online launch date that was presented at a Virginia Lottery meeting in July was for mid-August, but delays were encountered, most likely due to the announcement that DraftKings was planning to buy Golden Nugget for $1.5 billion.

That deal is still slated to close in the first quarter of 2022, but in the meantime, Golden Nugget Online joins an entire list of live online sportsbooks in the Old Dominion State.

Golden Nugget Becomes Ninth Online Sportsbook to Go Live in Virginia

For those new to sports betting, a sports betting operator is the company that is licensed to run a sports betting operation and their sportsbook acts as the “bookie” that takes the actual wagers either in person or online.

In Virginia, up to 17 sportsbooks are allowed in the state, but the Virginia Lottery has never officially released who exactly applied for all the available licenses and instead just told the press that 25 companies had submitted applications.

So far, there are nine online sportsbooks that have gone live in Virginia:

1. FanDuel Sportsbook
2. DraftKings Sportsbook
3. BetRivers
4. BetMGM
5. Caesars Sportsbook (formerly William Hill)
6. WynnBET
7. Unibet
8. PointsBet
9. Golden Nugget Online

In August, the eight Virginia online sportsbooks that were live at the time took in a reported $182.4 million in bets, a 12.7% increase from July, and that equated to approximately $1.4 million in tax revenue for the state.

Oct. VA Lottery Board Meeting Could include Update on Five Licenses Still Available

As we reported earlier in BlueBet Deemed Ineligible for VA Sports Betting License, Five Spots Remain, due to a legislative mix up, earlier this year Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam had to sign some new sports betting bills into law.

These new bills essentially fixed the betting bill from the prior year, and now that updated legislation increases the market size and allows for five more sports betting licenses to be granted.

There were reportedly 18 total applications submitted for those five new spots but as we reported the one by BlueBet was disqualified for the company’s lack of minority ownership as well as for having little to no experience in the U.S. market.

Updates on those remaining 17 applications should be made available at the next Virginia Lottery board meeting which is scheduled to take place on October 27.

Be sure to check back here for the latest news and updates on Virginia’s ongoing sports betting operations.