Is sports betting legal in Virginia?
Yes, online and in person, for bettors 21 and older. A 2020 law (Acts of Assembly chapters 1218 and 1256, Va. Code §§ 58.1-4030 to 58.1-4048) put the Virginia Lottery in charge, and FanDuel took the first legal mobile bets on January 21, 2021. Retail betting began July 8, 2022, at Hard Rock's temporary casino in Bristol. Bets on Virginia college teams and prop bets on any college game are still illegal.
Where you can bet
The Lottery's permit list names 11 holders: Betfair Interactive (FanDuel, with the Washington Commanders), Crown Virginia Gaming (DraftKings), BetMGM, Rivers Casino Portsmouth, Caesars Virginia, Bally's Interactive, Penn Sports Interactive, Colonial Downs Group, HR Bristol (Hard Rock), Hillside (Virginia) and PlayLive Virginia. Its July 2026 report counted 11 mobile operators and three casino sportsbooks. Bettors wagered $609.2 million that month, nearly 42% more than in July 2025, and the state collected $8.3 million in tax.
The three retail books are at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol, Rivers Casino Portsmouth and Caesars Virginia in Danville.
Operators pay 15% of adjusted gross revenue, and 2.5% of that tax goes to the Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund. Budget language in force since July 1, 2022 lets an operator deduct free-bet promotions only during its first 12 months, and the Lottery applies the same rule under the 2026 budget act. Since July 1, 2026, HB 515 (chapter 926) has barred credit cards as a way to fund a betting account. Youth sports are off the board, though the code says Olympic events organized by the International Olympic Committee don't count as youth sports.
How Virginia legalized sports betting
Lottery, racing and the 2019 study
JLARC's 2019 review described gambling in Virginia as long prohibited, with exceptions for the lottery, charitable gaming and wagering on horse races. Voters approved a state-run lottery 57% to 43% in November 1987, and the first ticket, a Match 3 scratcher, sold on September 20, 1988. In 2000, more than 80% of voters added the State Lottery Proceeds Fund to the constitution, which sends lottery profits to education.
The 2019 General Assembly passed SB 1126, which authorized casinos in Bristol, Danville, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Richmond but made the law contingent on a review by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) and a second vote in 2020. Sports betting bills didn't pass that year, and lawmakers asked for more study instead. JLARC's report, Gaming in the Commonwealth, projected about $260 million a year in state tax from the five casinos and up to $55 million from a fully developed sports wagering market.
The 2020 laws
Two pairs of identical bills passed in 2020. HB 896 (Del. Mark Sickles) and SB 384 (Sen. Jeremy McPike) created the sports betting program. On March 8, 2020, the House adopted the SB 384 conference report 58 to 34 and the Senate 31 to 8. HB 4 and SB 36 set up casino licensing, required a referendum in each host city and taxed casinos at 18% to 30% of adjusted gross receipts. All four became law on April 22, 2020, when the legislature accepted Gov. Ralph Northam's amendments (chapters 1197, 1218, 1248 and 1256), with a July 1, 2020 effective date.
The original sports act charged a $250,000 application fee plus $250,000 on approval, with a $200,000 renewal every three years. It capped the Lottery at four to 12 permits and gave preferred consideration to major league franchises based or playing in Virginia and to casino applicants. A prohibited bet is a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Voters in all four cities holding a vote approved casinos on November 3, 2020. The yes share ran from 65.1% in Norfolk to 71.1% in Bristol. The Lottery Board had adopted its first sports betting regulations on September 15, 2020, and kept a ban on Olympic betting at the time.
Launch and the first amendments
The Lottery awarded its first permit on January 20, 2021, to FanDuel, which applied with the Washington Football Team under the franchise preference. FanDuel went live the next day. DraftKings followed on January 24, and BetMGM, BetRivers and William Hill had approvals by January 27. Hard Rock Bet opened online on May 16, 2022.
HB 1847 and SB 1254 passed in 2021 and were enacted as chapters 351 and 352 of the 2021 Special Session I. They kept casino-linked permits outside the 12-permit cap and, for permits issued before July 1, 2025, gave preferred consideration to applicants with minority ownership or contracting plans.
The 2022 budget ended open-ended promotional deductions on July 1, 2022. Seven operators had passed their first 12 months and lost the deduction; they had taken 93.2% of the $190 million deducted through May 2022. A 2023 proposal would have restored a deduction capped at 1.75% of wagers. It didn't pass that way, and the Lottery's July 2026 report still applies the first-12-months rule.
Casinos and host cities
Rivers Casino Portsmouth opened January 23, 2023, with a BetRivers sportsbook, and Caesars Virginia opened in Danville on December 17, 2024, with a Caesars Sportsbook. Richmond voters rejected a casino twice: 40,243 to 38,750 on November 2, 2021, and by more than 60% on November 7, 2023. Petersburg voters approved one on November 5, 2024, 82% to 18%, and the Cordish Companies opened a temporary Live! Casino Virginia there on January 22, 2026. Boyd Gaming and the Pamunkey Indian Tribe opened a temporary Norfolk casino in November 2025. The Lottery's count of three land-based sportsbooks doesn't include either temporary site.
The 2026 session
Gov. Abigail Spanberger approved HB 515 and the fantasy rewrite (HB 145 and SB 129) on April 13, 2026. House General Laws left HB 1527 in committee on February 18; it would have allowed bets on Virginia NCAA Division I teams and taxed them at 50%. A similar 2024 bill, SB 124, was continued to 2025, and the ban is still in § 58.1-4039. Both online casino bills, HB 161 and SB 118, died in conference on March 14. HB 271, which would create an independent Virginia Gaming Commission, passed the House 90 to 7 on February 17, and Senate Finance continued it to 2027 on March 9 by a 10 to 4 vote. Spanberger vetoed SB 756, which would have allowed a casino referendum in Fairfax County, on April 9.
Sports betting court cases in Virginia
We found no court challenge to the 2020 sports betting law. As of September 25, 2026, we also found no Virginia lawsuit or cease-and-desist letter against a prediction market. The cases that control Virginia's position are federal appeals over whether the Commodity Exchange Act preempts state gambling law.
KalshiEX LLC v. Martin (Fourth Circuit, No. 25-1892)
Kalshi sued Maryland's gaming regulators in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland (No. 1:25-cv-01283) on April 21, 2025. The court denied a preliminary injunction on August 1, 2025 (793 F. Supp. 3d 667), and the Fourth Circuit docketed Kalshi's appeal on August 6, 2025. The panel heard argument on May 7, 2026. Maryland agreed not to enforce its licensing rules against Kalshi while the appeal is pending. Both sides have kept filing supplemental authorities, most recently Maryland on September 21, 2026. No decision had issued as of September 25, 2026. Virginia is in the Fourth Circuit, so the ruling will bind federal courts in Virginia.
Rulings in other circuits
On April 6, 2026, the Third Circuit ruled 2 to 1 in KalshiEX LLC v. Flaherty (No. 25-1922) that Kalshi was likely to succeed on preemption, and it affirmed an injunction against New Jersey. The Ninth Circuit went the other way on August 28, 2026, in KalshiEX, LLC v. Assad (No. 25-7516), holding that Kalshi hadn't shown the act likely preempts Nevada's gaming laws. New Jersey asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take its case in September 2026.
Virginia's filings in other states' cases
Attorney General Jay Jones signed an April 2026 amicus brief from 38 attorneys general in Massachusetts v. KalshiEX LLC (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, No. SJC-13906), which asks that court to affirm an injunction barring Kalshi's sports contracts in Massachusetts while the case is pending, unless Kalshi gets a license. Virginia was also one of 44 states whose attorneys general told the CFTC in a 2026 comment letter that it lacks authority over sports contracts.
Sadler Brothers Oil Co. v. Commonwealth (skill games)
A 2020 law added "skill games" to the definition of illegal gambling after a one-year grace period in which the machines were taxed. Sadler Brothers Oil Company, which runs truck stops, sued in Greensville County Circuit Court and won a temporary injunction after a December 6, 2021 hearing. The legislature re-enacted the ban in a 2022 budget rider, and the Supreme Court of Virginia vacated a second injunction on October 13, 2023. The trial court then granted summary judgment to the state, and the Court of Appeals affirmed on August 12, 2025 (Record No. 0463-24-2), rejecting Sadler's claim that the rider broke the constitution's single-object rule. Spanberger vetoed SB 661, which would have legalized and taxed the machines, on April 13, 2026, and the Senate didn't take up an override at the April 22 reconvened session.
Prediction markets and daily fantasy
Kalshi and Polymarket list sports contracts for Virginia users without a state license, and no Virginia agency has moved against them (see the court cases above). FanDuel and DraftKings, which hold Virginia sportsbook permits, don't offer sports contracts on their prediction market apps in the state, according to CBS Sports. The only 2026 bill to address the category was HB 271: it would have had the new Gaming Commission study prediction markets and report by October 1, 2029, and it now waits for 2027. Novig, run by Ludlow Exchange, LLC, which the CFTC designated a contract market on June 16, 2026, excludes only Nevada, Arizona and Michigan, requires users to be 21 with ID and builds no vig into its prices.
Virginia was the first state to regulate paid fantasy contests, through the Fantasy Contests Act (HB 775 and SB 646), which Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed on March 7, 2016. Operators registered with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and players could be 18. On December 12, 2023, Attorney General Jason Miyares issued Opinion 23-058 to Del. Wren Williams, concluding that pick'em games played against an operator's stat lines are sports betting. The Virginia Mercury reported in June 2024 that the opinion had not led to major enforcement. HB 145 and SB 129 (chapters 565 and 566) repealed the 2016 act on July 1, 2026, moved fantasy permits to the Lottery, raised the age to 21 and imposed a 10% tax plus a 2.6% fee. The new definition of a fantasy contest excludes any game in which a player competes against the operator.
Help with a gambling problem
Virginia Problem Gambling Helpline: 888-532-3500.
Sources
Virginia Lottery: lottery history and the State Lottery Proceeds Fund
NASPL: Virginia Lottery first ticket sales, September 20, 1988
Virginia Mercury: Lottery approves sports betting rules (September 15, 2020)
Old Dominion University: Let It Ride, casino referendum results
Legal Sports Report: Virginia launch with FanDuel (January 2021)
Hard Rock Bet Virginia: online launch and first retail sportsbook
Virginia Mercury: proposal to restore part of the promo deduction (March 14, 2023)
Richmond voters reject casino in second referendum (November 8, 2023)
Maryland Daily Record: Petersburg casino referendum passes (November 6, 2024)
HB 271 House General Laws substitute (prediction markets study clause)
CourtListener docket: KalshiEX LLC v. Martin, No. 25-1892 (4th Cir.)
Maryland Daily Record: Maryland's non-enforcement agreement during the appeal (August 13, 2026)
Third Circuit opinion, KalshiEX LLC v. Flaherty, No. 25-1922 (April 6, 2026)
Ninth Circuit opinion, KalshiEX, LLC v. Assad, No. 25-7516 (August 28, 2026)
The Hill: New Jersey petitions the Supreme Court; 44 attorneys general write to the CFTC
Amicus brief of 38 attorneys general, Massachusetts v. KalshiEX LLC, No. SJC-13906
Virginia Mercury: Supreme Court of Virginia reinstates skill game ban (October 13, 2023)
JURIST: Virginia becomes first state to regulate fantasy sports (March 2016)
Virginia Mercury: fantasy contests and sports betting (June 26, 2024)