- Mobile and online sports betting are coming back to West Virginia.
- DraftKings will provide the online sportsbook through Hollywood Casino.
- Mobile wagering has been down in West Virginia since early March.
CHARLES TOWN, W. Va. – Mobile sports betting will return to West Virginia next week.
The new product will be operated through DraftKings. The Hollywood Casino in Charles Town will host the DraftKings sportsbook.
The West Virginia Lottery oversaw the testing phase of the new online sportsbook. The state Lottery reported that tests for the mobile wagering app finished on Wednesday. The West Virginia Lottery Director is John Myers. He said that there were several factors to determine if the sportsbooks passed the tests.
“Making sure that we can verify the player that has the account is the one playing and to make sure the geolocation system works, and those people are actually located inside the state of West Virginia,” said Myers.
A federal law known as the Wire Act is the biggest reason why the geolocation system is necessary. Bettors are not allowed to take mobile wagering from one state and bring it to another. The geolocation technology will assure that mobile wagering stays within state borders. This is necessary for all mobile sportsbooks in West Virginia and around the country.
Delaware North Sportsbooks Are Still Down
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This is not the first online sportsbook that West Virginia has had. The Mardi Gras and Wheeling Island casinos had an online wagering app. The name of the app was BetLucky. Both of the casinos have a partnership with a sportsbook provider called Delaware North.
The sportsbooks in the two casinos closed last March. This is due to the fact that Delaware North was on the receiving end of contract disagreements.
This caused the sportsbooks in the two West Virginia casinos to shut down. With the sportsbooks shut down, BetLucky also had to cease operations. There is still no estimated time to when the two sportsbooks will reopen for business.
In the meantime, the DraftKings online sportsbook is hoping to fill the mobile wagering void for West Virginia. For states with mobile wagering, most sports bettors place their wagers at online sportsbooks in the USA. A reported 80 percent of New Jersey’s sports betting market is online.
This was also true for West Virginia. Myers said that BetLucky did much better than retail sportsbooks while it was live. The new mobile sportsbook in West Virginia is looking to achieve similar results. The DraftKings mobile sportsbook is set to have a soft launch next week.
Alejandro likes to write articles to give people the information they are looking for. He has always been a fan of horse betting since his father took him to the races. Outside of that, Alejandro is an avid video game player and he is constantly watching tournaments throughout the year.
