Tomlin: 'In 2025, Virginians Wagered Enough to Circle the Commonwealth Thousands of Times Over'

Written by :

Aaron Goldstein

Published on :

1 February, 2026

The Virginia Lottery this past week released its report on sports wagering activity submitted by licensed operators for the month of December 2025.

Between 1-31 December 2025, Virginians wagered $710,948,200. For December, fourteen mobile operators and three casinos were authorized to accept wagers in Virginia.

Virginia bettors won a total of $627,530,442 for a combined 11.73% operators win percentage, 5% higher than last December.

“In 2025, Virginians wagered enough to circle the commonwealth thousands of times over,” BetVirginia analyst Jim Tomlin said in a statement. “Nearly $7.7 billion in bets shows sports betting here isn’t a side activity anymore; it’s a major lane in the state’s economy.”

December numbers were down slightly from November 2025, when Virginians bet $798 million on apps and at casinos, compared with $710 million in December 2025, an 11% decrease.

Though the Virginia Cavaliers football team had a historic and unexpected breakout season in 2025 under head coach Tony Elliott, finishing with a 11–3 overall record (7–1 ACC) and a top-20 ranking, Virginians cannot place bets on in-school teams through regulated apps. Instead, they must rely on offshore sportsbooks and local credit bookies, none of which are regulated by the Virginia Lottery.

State law places a 15% tax on sports betting activity based on each permit holder’s adjusted gross revenue, which is defined as total wagers minus total winnings and other authorized deductions.

The commonwealth is especially protective of gamblers, while also taking addiction seriously. Of the state tax on sports betting AGR, the statute specifies 97.5 percent is to be deposited in the state’s General Fund and 2.5 percent is to be deposited into the Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund administered by the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.

In 2023, The Virginia Lottery required that one of its regulated gambling sites, BetMGM, pay a Fairfax County, Virginia Special Ed teacher after that company cancelled a series of wining parlay bets amounting to $214,000.