Online gambling in West Virginia

The United States took the decision to allow its states to legalize online gambling. So, West Virginia happened to be one of the earliest states to support and regulate it formally. Horse racing was the state’s pari-mutuel industry and in the years following, the state saw it gain a lot of influence and revenue within online gambling in West Virginia.

Best online gambling sites in West Virginia

Below is a complete list of the best online gambling sites in West Virginia that are fully licensed to operate within the state.

DraftKings West Virginia

When it comes to the gambling experiences, DraftKings West Virginia always comes first in line. Whether it’s in the comfort of your home or on the go, each experience remains exceptional. It hosts a full selection of games including live dealer games that give it the most life-like feeling thanks to high-quality technology.

Its online gambling library is full of worthwhile rewards made up of generous promotions that run throughout the year. And with a highly competitive welcome bonus, you have a deposit match bonus to take full advantage of. There are also free credits that you’ll receive for those first deposits as a new player.

Presently, the gambling site has a partnership with Hollywood so that its services can be accessed in the Mountain State. But for players who are after convenience, then the DraftKings West Virginia online gambling app will do the trick. It’s user-friendly, reliable, stylish, and highly responsive. You can also bet on sports online in WV on the DraftKings app.

The DraftKings mobile app is available on Google Play and the iStore. You can use the app anywhere in the state, and you’re free to enjoy its bonuses and features in every way possible. The app can also be used to accumulate loyalty points when playing slots and table games.

FanDuel West Virginia

Another online gambling site that’s big on offering the best gaming experiences is FanDuel. The brand alone comes highly reputable and its online gambling option is no different. Here, you have access to jackpots, slots, table games, and a sportsbook. And with all that you’d find on its daily fantasy platform and sportsbook, the experience remains the same even when you’re on its gambling site. So, whether you’re using a desktop or mobile device, your experience remains exceptional and free of bugs or crashes.

As a new player, you will receive a risk-free bonus that will apply for the first 24 hours on the FanDuel platform. This means that you’ll be receiving cover on all our total losses during that time. It also means that players have the opportunity to explore the platform risk-free to see if it’s an ideal option for them.

FanDuel offers players in West Virginia a mobile gambling app. Enjoy attractive bonuses, an appealing design, and a large collection of video slots to choose between. There’s also a daily fantasy platform and online racebook covering all the bases that you would find in the Mountain State.

BetRivers West Virginia

BetRivers West Virginia is also another addition to the online gambling group of live operators in the state. BitRivers is a big and popular online gambling site across the United States with fantastic products to enjoy.

Not only does it host most gambling game favorites, but players are constantly enticed with exceptional support, regular promotions, and attractive bonuses in West Virginia. Upon signing up on the BetRivers platform catering to West Virginian players, you’ll receive a deposit bonus that will match your first deposit. After this, each week will bring you a ton of rewarding promotions that will make your gaming experience worthwhile.

In addition to this, the operator runs many contests and tournaments that players can join to win free credit-bets. There’s also the iRush Rewards loyalty program that rewards players for their commitment to the platform. All these features and benefits are available on its West Virginian mobile betting app. This app is able to perform on a wide range of devices and players can expect to find a generous deposit match bonus that has a 1X rollover requirement.

It’s also got a customer support department that’s second to none with help in every avenue that you can think of. This includes a live chat feature and email service.

PointsBet West Virginia

The PointsBet gambling site was one of the last operators to arrive in West Virginia. This happened in January 2022. Players are guaranteed a unique user experience thanks to its proprietary technology that also offers an attractive welcome offer. Though the online gambling launched with just 15 games from software provider, SG Digital, the collection is expected to grow. Among its game selection, it offers PointsBetting and online sports gambling in West Virginia.

Caesars West Virginia

The Caesars Entertainment brand has recently undergone a complete change in its iGaming presence after buying out William Hill. This was how Caesars came into being. From this point, it took over the William Hill sportsbook and overall gambling product. It’s a well-known fact that William Hill has some of the best products to offer in iGaming. However, Caesars West Virginia intends on keeping these offerings and improving on them. Now, it’s offering this very product on the market in West Virginia.

Caesars WV features a decent game selection that is expected to grow. It also hosts some fantastic support options to help players in their time of need and uncertainty. At the moment, the online gambling offers one of the best deposit match bonuses in iGaming. It also has a user-friendly mobile app that Android and iOS users can download on their mobile devices.

Is online gambling legal in West Virginia?

Yes, online gambling is legal in West Virginia. In 2019, the West Virginia Lottery Interactive Wagering Act was passed by lawmakers of the West Virginian state. This act allows for gambling expansion to take place within the state to legalize online poker and gambling in online casinos. So far, West Virginia has issued licenses to five land-based casinos. Each land-based venue is allowed to have one partner for online poker and another partnership for gambling at casinos.

Online casinos in West Virginia were able to launch in July 2020. However, the poker sites took a little more time to launch. Among some of the benefits that come with being a West Virginian player is that you have access to free gambling games. These are helpful in practicing and sharpening skills. You can find these at various social gambling sites and some even offer prizes for wins.

However, it’s worth noting that the bill legalizing online gambling doesn’t legalize gambling on offshore operators. The West Virginian law has a definition of what gambling is, but this definition is rather broad. Therefore, this gives rise to unauthorized internet games and platforms.

Playing on offshore betting sites is highly unadvisable. Also, if you are found placing any unlawful bets within the state, you will be fined a punishable fee of $5 to $100 depending on the size of the offense.

How to choose the best gambling site in WV

There are several factors that go into considering an operator as being one of the best in real-money online gambling in West Virginia. Key highlights include:

West Virginia online gambling laws explained

The West Virginia Code is what governs all gambling laws that take place in West Virginia. This can be found in Section 61-10. With the regulations that are currently in operation, the code prohibits state residents from taking part in any games that don’t have a license to operate. This applies to cases where real money is involved. While the code is clear on what it prohibits, it doesn’t necessarily make mention of online games.

Because of the broad nature of the code, residents aren’t provided with a clear list that applies to scenarios that involve online gambling in the state. But so far, no players have been legally prosecuted for going against this code. Therefore, there hasn’t been any court interpretation that’s been brought forward to help clarify the issue.

Other offenses relating to gambling are covered by the code in Chapter 61. You can find this under Article 10: Crimes Against Public Policy.

Legal online gambling options in WV

A few of the most popular and legal online gambling options in WV.

Sports betting

In May 2018, sports betting was legalized to operate in West Virginia. Ever since that time, all local sportsbooks have gone into partnership with leading betting companies to launch land-based sportsbooks.

Penn National was the very first sportsbook to receive a license. Its sportsbook online version was launched in partnership with William Hill. This then formed what’s known today as Hollywood Sportsbook. The second license went to The Greenbrier and FanDuel. So, the sportsbook is available to players online as FanDuel Sportsbook. This will be found at The Greenbrier.

After this, Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack and Mardi Gras Casino went on to launch land-based sportsbooks. Bother Delaware North Casinos were left with no choice but to stop accepting bets because of a dispute that was going on with their service provider. BetLucky was also one of the online platforms to be tied to these gambling establishments. However, it’s still operating online despite its customers being unable to place bets or make deposits. This will continue to be the case for the operator until these legal issues are resolved.

The final gambling establishment in West Virginia to launch a land-based sportsbook was The Mountaineer Casino Resort. Here, players can place their bets online by using the Mountaineer Sportsbook that’s operated in partnership with William Hill. At the moment, residents in the state can engage in off and on-track horse race betting. Horse racing is also available online through leading platforms like XpressBet, TwinSpires, and TVG.

It’s said that retail sports betting exists at all West Virginian casinos despite things being on hold at the moment.

Casinos

Classic table games and Video Lottery Terminals are available at five gambling facilities in West Virginia. Games include poker, craps, blackjack, and roulette. The facilities are located in:

A maximum of five Video Lottery Terminals can be run by bars. Fraternity organizations can only take up to 10 terminals. All terminals must have an 80% to 95% rate on all return-to-player games. Casinos in West Virginia don’t have to have any bet size limits.

Fantasy sports

Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) is legal in West Virginia. Back in 2016, Patrick Morrisey who was the West Virginia Attorney General, said that because DFS games don’t require as much skill from players to play, they don’t meet West Virginia’s threshold of gambling. It was in 2017 that lawmakers in the state introduced a bill to clarify the legal status of DFS games. The bill ended up being passed, however, no further actions were taken from that point.

Today, all DFS platforms are available to all players in the state. Popular platforms include FanDuel, Yahoo Sports, and DraftKings.

Poker rooms

All the gambling establishments that are present in West Virginia have live poker rooms. However, they all differ in size:

All land-based casinos in West Virginia offer poker rooms for players to make use of. Once regulations are in place and licenses are given out to all respective parties, online poker will follow. The one question that continues to ponder on many minds, however, is whether the state will share players as other states are doing. This is because the more available players there are, the bigger the selection of games will be. This also relates to prize money and tournaments as well.

Already, Delaware, New Jersey, and Nevada are sharing liquidity over players on the 888Poker and WSOP networks. It’s said that other states with licenses to offer online poker services are considering the partnership as well. But the various interpretations of The Wire Act bring about complications and questions on whether it’s legal to have online gaming interact across state lines.

Along with all the other types of gaming that the state’s lottery interactive wagering act authorized in 2019, online poker is legal to operate in West Virginia. But this doesn’t mean that online poker services are being offered as yet.

Upon assessing the profit potential that poker has for casinos and the state, the profits are lower. This is in comparison to online casinos and online sports betting. So, while a lot of action is being taken to issue licenses for online casinos in West Virginia, there’s no real clarity on a way forward for poker.

Horse betting

West Virginia and horse racing have a long history that dates very far back. In fact, four out of the five casinos in the state are home to horse tracks. Therefore, it’s quite clear that horse racing is a rather big deal.

Because of its long history and overall influence on West Virginia’s gambling journey, it only makes sense that residents in the state are allowed to participate in online horse betting as well. The state has reputable sites like TVG that accept horse racing bets from players in West Virginia for all races that take place across the United States.

A lot of the leading horse racing platforms have apps that players can download and install on their mobile devices. The process a player would go through in downloading a mobile casino app is identical to what they’d go through when downloading and installing these horse racing apps.

In case you aren’t aware, the steps to downloading a horse racing app are as follows:

Online gambling options that could become legal Lottery

The lottery in West Virginia offers its players the following draw games:

The lottery also runs Video Lottery Terminals and these are available anywhere in the state.

Tax rate of online gambling in West Virginia

In West Virginia, all the land-based casinos have permission to get a master license. This master license will allow them to run a maximum of three online casino skins. Each casino is liable to pay a license fee that costs $100,000. Software providers are also liable to pay a fee of $10,000 if they are in partnership with any of these land-based casinos. This applies to software providers that wish to operate in the state.

The moment an online gambling site is in full operation, they are responsible for paying the West Virginian state tax of 15%. This tax is applicable to the operator’s gross income.

As a gambler in West Virginia, you are liable to pay income tax on all the winnings that you’ll be getting from state online gambling sites. Here, a 24% tax rate applies to all gambling winnings by federal law. In most instances, this tax will automatically be withheld by the West Virginian gambling site. After this, you are also liable to pay between 2% to 5.75% of state tax. This will depend on how much your annual income will be at the time.

All gamblers are advised to keep a record of all their wins and losses. This is so that you can make all the necessary payments in times of needing to produce annual tax returns.

Who regulates online gambling in WV?

The commission in charge of regulating and licensing the entire state’s online gambling industry is the West Virginia Lottery Commission. Ever since online gambling got permission to operate in the state in 2019, the commission has been working since then to enact the necessary rules and regulations to run the industry. The commission is in charge of regulating all forms of gambling in the state.

At the moment, the commission is based in the West Virginian state capital, Charleston.

Online gambling history in West Virginia

Horse racing is first introduced to West Virginia in 1933. This comes after the state is seeing several offers of different state-sanctioned gambling attempts. Fast-forward to 1984 and the state is establishing its first lottery. The West Virginia state lotto comes after a statewide referendum. In 1994, another referendum shows up authorizing Video Lottery Terminals to take place at local racetracks.

By 2001, Video Lottery Terminals begin to operate in restaurants and bars that sell alcohol. The same started to take place in fraternal organizations as well. In 2007, the state’s racetracks are granted permission to start offering table games.

The Supreme Court lifts its federal ban in 2018. This means that states in the US are permitted to license various forms of gambling. So, West Virginia happens to be one of the first states to legalize online sportsbooks. In that same month, the state saw the WV Sports Lottery Act being passed. Penn National is the first company to receive a betting license. And in the same year, legal sports betting is offered at four of the five local casinos, and Penn National starts taking bets.

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