Virginia Online Gambling Sites
When it comes to Virginia online gambling sites, there’s more to the state than meets the eye. It’s not just casinos – online gambling is a big part of Virginia’s gambling ecosystem. This can range from sports betting to bingo to daily fantasy – everything under the sun. Some gambling types are regulated by the state of Virginia, and some are not. Even with that taken into account, Virginia gamblers will be able to access many online sports betting and other Virginia online gambling websites to fulfill their various betting needs.
It is very important to be safe about which of these Virginia online gambling websites you use, however. That’s why we set up our USAOnlineGambling network – to make sure that people who wanted to know how to gamble online in Virginia, safely, could have a knowledge bank to look at. This page will focus on gambling regulations in Virginia, and where you can gamble if you are a Virginia resident, or even simply visiting.
StateVirginia
Population8.536 Million
Largest Gambling CitiesRichmond, Bristol
Number Of Land Based CasinosNo true casinos
Gambling Revenue600 Million
State Licensed DFSYes
State Licensed Sports BettingYes
Land Based Poker RoomsNo
Lottery ServicesYes
Mobile Betting OptionsDaily Fantasy
Best Virginia Gambling Sites
The best Virginia gambling websites aren’t hard to pick out from the pack. There are generally a few things we look at when we review gambling websites. The first thing to examine is whether or not the gambling provider is a licensed gambling provider – this is probably the most important thing you can do. It’s not incredibly important where they are licensed, but they must be a licensed provider.
The next important thing when it comes to choosing an online gambling website is reputation. It’s very easy, in the age of the internet, to attain a good reputation or a bad reputation. Millions of people use the websites we recommend, and their recommendations are what matters – we want the best gambling sites, and crowds have wisdom and are worth trusting.
Best Online Sportsbooks
Best USA Online Casinos
Best Online Poker Sites
How We Pick The Best Virginia Gambling Sites
Different Types Of Online Gambling In Virginia
The two most popular types of gambling in Virginia, and indeed in the United States of America as a whole, are online casinos and sports betting. However, USA online casinos and sports betting are not the only game in town in Virginia. Virginia online gambling ranges from poker and blackjack to online slot machines and daily fantasy sports. There is even horserace betting, and a state lottery. If you’re in Virginia, you’re set, no matter what your specific gambling vice is, you can find it in Virginia.
Virginia Online Casinos
Virginians have access to a ton of online casino options. These Virginia online casinos are headquartered outside the United States, and are thus not subject to the regulations of the government, but don’t let that fool you – they are reputable, regulated organizations in their own locations. Virginians can access them as easy as pie thanks to the magic of the internet – they just have to visit them online!
Benefits of Virginia Online Casinos:
Virginia Online Sportsbooks
Virginia’s online sportsbooks are up and running, but they do come with a cost - you can’t wager on college games involving teams in VA, which means if you want to bet on the Virginia Cavaliers, you won’t be able to do so with the local VA books. This means that bettors in VA tend to turn to the online sportsbooks located outside of VA, in order to place bets on their favorite teams.
These sportsbooks are excellent, though, often cited for their lines by sportswriters across the globe, and run by a ton of professional, well-intentioned, and ethical people. These sportsbooks are the best in the world – they’re fully licensed, usually in Costa Rica, signing up is very easy, and deposit and withdrawal are a breeze. They’re very much worth trying out – even more than one, as shopping lines is incredibly important.
Benefits of Virginia Online Sportsbooks:
Virginia Online Poker Sites
Virginia bettors have a vast variety of options at Virginia online poker sites, not just in terms of what poker site you want to use, but in terms of what poker type you want to play. You can play anything from No-Limit Texas Hold ‘Em to Pai Gow to Caribbean Stud poker.
You can even choose a poker website that has live dealers, to bring that casino vibe and excitement to you. This can even help reduce the doubt that many bettors have about normal automated dealers – you can see the person dealing the cards to you. You can use a large amount of deposit and withdrawal options for Virginia’s online poker websites, from credit cards to cryptocurrency and beyond.
Benefits of Virginia Online Poker:
Virginia Online DFS
Virginia was the first state to formally regulate Daily Fantasy Sports and institute a system of regulations for it within its borders. Since then, however, they have become a little more hostile to it. However, the major operators still run within the state of Virginia. Many websites run Daily Fantasy, normally in the form of competitions. Some of the famous ones are Draftkings, FanDuel, and Yahoo. Daily fantasy is exactly what it sounds like – it’s fantasy sports, but daily, in a contest form, for real money. If you’re in Virginia, you have a ton of options for playing DFS of all kinds, from football to basketball.
Benefits of Virginia Online DFS:
Virginia Online Bingo
Online bingo gambling has revolutionized bingo as far as what it’s like to play. Now, you can play multiple, automated cards, or you can play a normal slow game of bingo. The experiences vary from something similar to the feeling of playing slot machines to something very similar to playing bingo offline. It’s worth checking out if you incline. Virginia online bingo is available at websites located outside of the state, but regulated in other countries.
Benefits of Virginia Online Bingo:
Virginia Online Lottery
The lottery is a pastime among many Virginians, and for good reason – everyone loves the chance for free money. However, the internet has revolutionized lottery play in the great state of Virginia, and now you can play the lottery online. The way this works, in Virginia, is that you can buy subscriptions to certain lotteries, such as the Mega Millions, and then use those to play online. Of course, you could always go down to the corner store, but why do that when you can play the best USA online lottery from your phone?
Benefits of Virginia Online Lottery:
Virginia Online Horse Racing
Virginia horse racing has been in somewhat of a peril, as the Colonial Downs closed in 2014. Greyhound racing is already against the law but Virginia still allows horse racing and OTBs for online horse betting. Without any land-based options, Virginia horse bettors should visit online gambling sites to get their pari-mutuel wagering desires met. Virginia online horse racing bettors have the ability to utilize the fully-fledged online casinos, which all also have racebooks, if shopping lines is something that you are interested in doing, or if you want to see if there are better bets at one of them as opposed to the state partners, which are subject to state taxation.
Benefits of Virginia Online Horse Racing:
Is It Legal To Use Bovada In Virginia?
When it comes to betting on teams like the Virginia Cavaliers, a lot of people in the state turn to online sportsbooks like Bovada. Bovada is an industry leader in the world of online gambling, and is one of the premier online sportsbooks and casinos on the internet. As far as legality, they tend to occupy a bit of a gray area. Generally, laws are targeted at the providers of gambling, and not at the people who are using the websites that provide it. As always, make sure to consult a lawyer, as that tends to be the best practice in situations like this.
Virginia Online Slots
Online slots might be something you would think fall under the purview of online casinos. For the most part, you would be somewhat correct about this assumption – most of the major online casinos will have online slots as a large part of their experiences.
However, in Virginia, many online websites are devoted entirely to USA online slots, with no other online casino games. It’s sort of like picking what you want out of similar options, provided differently. Do you want an experience catered to you, with lots of variety like a casino, or do you want a single-minded, focused slot machine experience? There are a lot of options to choose from.
Benefits of Virginia Online Slots:
Mobile Gambling In Virginia
State-regulated mobile gambling in Virginia only goes as far as the lottery and horse racing. So, if you want to bet on sports, for example, from your mobile device, the best option for you is to use one of the online websites. They don’t have apps, but they are all optimized for mobile use. Basically what this means is that they designed their websites so that when you visit them on a mobile browser, they show up as most apps do – clean, well designed, and easy to use. These mobile websites have full functionality and are excellent and extremely well put together.
Mobile Sports Betting Apps
With the state-regulated launch of sports betting happening in January of 2021, online sportsbooks have had plenty of time since then to deploy their apps in Virginia. Some require lengthy downloads and take up extra space because of geolocation tools. Internationally regulated sportsbooks do not offer sports betting apps, although their websites are fully mobile-compatible and do not take up any storage space.
Mobile Casino Apps
Just like mobile sports betting apps, mobile casino apps are not regulated by the state of Virginia and are thus not available within the state. However, also like mobile sports betting apps, Virginians have access to online casinos, which do work on your mobile device. All you have to do is visit them via your mobile browser, and then you should be good to go.
Retail Casinos In Virginia
When Virginians of Bristol, Danville, Norfolk, and Portsmouth all voted to approve casinos coming to their cities back in November of 2020, they gave the green light to many of the biggest brands in gambling to come to their cities. The projections for when each of those cities will have casinos are:
- Bristol - Hard Rock Casino - Launched in July of 2022
- Danville - Caesars Casino - Launch in 2024
- Norfolk - Headwaters Casino - Launch in 2024
- Portsmouth - Rivers Casino - Launch in 2023
How To Register For An Online Gambling Account In VA
Registering for an online gambling account in Virginia involves the same few steps at both VA-sanctioned gambling sites and internationally regulated gambling sites. The steps below are universal and should not come as a surprise.
Steps To Register To Gamble Online In Virginia
- Go to the desired online casino/sportsbook/racebook/poker room that you wish to join.
- Select "Sign Up" or "Join"
- Enter your email and password.
- The gambling site may ask for a few more personal questions. Common requests include your address, birthday, social security number, and a driver's license photo.
- Select your desired payment method and enter the desired deposit amount. Some sites will send a confirmation code via phone number.
- Enter a bonus code if you wish you accept a bonus. Bonuses are a great option for long-term players but should be avoided by players who want to withdraw soon.
- The final step should involve selecting “deposit” or confirming all information. VA-regulated sites may require a geo-location app to be installed or for you to share your location.
Real Money Online Gambling Sites In Virginia
Wagering real money is what makes online gambling worth it – the excitement of having something viscerally real on the line, the thrill of feeling fate in action. Luckily for Virginia bettors, the thrill of real money gambling is available to them at home!
All Virginia bettors need to do is use some of the online casinos and sportsbooks, which are reputable, highly rated, and safe. They can use many different types of deposit and withdrawal methods, from gift cards to cryptocurrency to credit cards, and they are excellent at providing games of chance, skill, and everything in between.
Free Online Gambling In Virginia
Maybe you don’t want to play for money right away, though? That is A-OK, because most of the free online casino options that are available to are so on the Virginia betting sites. It’s worth noting that these games will not have much, if anything, in the way of rewards, but they are excellent in terms of getting familiar with the games that you will be playing for real money eventually.
Is Online Gambling Legal In Virginia?
Online gambling is legal in Virginia as long as you do it properly. Daily Fantasy is regulated by the state, as is horse race betting. For everything else, Virginians have to look offshore to the sportsbooks, casinos and poker rooms operated on the internet.
The only law that affects these establishments is the UIGEA, which restricts the ability of financial institutions to process transactions from known gambling providers. This, however, notably does not stop any user from using these types of services. In this way, Virginians can access the ability to gamble.
Online Gambling Laws In Virginia
Virginia’s desire to have online gambling within its borders has depended a lot on which type of online gambling is up for discussion. Virginia was the first state to regulate daily fantasy and regulate it, and it has had legal horse race betting for a while as well. Online sports betting was recently added to the “state regulated” group, as it got up and running in early 2021.
Online poker and online casinos, however, are not state-regulated yet, and this leaves the only option for Virginia bettors to be going offshore to the online casinos and poker rooms and casinos. This, in a sense, deprives the government of Virginia of taxable income – we’d all benefit from state regulation.
Legal Gambling Age In Virginia
The legal gambling age in Virginia will depend on what type of gambling you want to do. There are different gambling ages for different types of gambling, from lottery gaming to pari-mutuel horse betting to online poker and daily fantasy sports. All of these different types of gaming have different legal betting ages. However, all of them are between the ages of 18-21, so if you are older than 21, you are good to go no matter what.- Lottery: 18
- Parimutuel: 18
- Casinos: 18-21
- Bingo: 18
- Online Poker: 18
- DFS: 21
- Sports Betting: 21
Where Are Virginia Gambling Sites Regulated
The state-based ones are regulated with the state of Virginia, of course. The offshore gambling websites are registered where they are located. For example, many of the full service casino websites are registered in Costa Rica, and subject to the laws and regulations of that sovereign nation. Many of the online poker websites are registered in Canada, and are similarly subject to Canadian restrictions and laws.
Who Can Play At Virginia Online Gambling Sites
Well, for state regulated sites, only Virginians and people within the borders of Virginia can play. For the online websites, mostly anyone can play on them anywhere they are available. There are some state residents that will find some of them hard to use, because they tend to leave states where action might be taken against them, but they’re generally widely available.
Taxes On Gambling Winnings In Virginia
It’s probably worth paying your taxes if you are collecting winnings at a gambling website. There are state taxes on the state regulated gambling winnings, such as lottery winnings, and also any income you make from gambling does get counted as income, and you should report it on your taxes as such. The last thing you want as a gambler is to get audited by the federal government. Honestly, that’s the last thing most people want, let alone specifically gamblers. Pay your taxes.
Gambling Revenue In Virginia
Virginia’s state sanctioned sports betting revenue was very solid in 2021. The state saw a whopping $2,795,193,823 in handle, with $254,380,544 in total revenue taken in by the state sportsbooks. Sportsbooks in Virginia boasted a 9.1% hold percentage through 2021, which yielded an average revenue stream to the state of $18,610,891. This number is expected to double, after Virginia's 2022 budget removed the promotional deduction abilities of sportsbooks active for 12 months. According to estimations, a yearly sports betting tax to Virginia should eclipse $35 million.
Future Of Virginia Online Gambling
While Virginia has gotten to work regulating online sports betting, with the first sportsbooks already up and running in the state, they still might be leaving money on the table. At some point, legislators will take note of the potential revenue stream that regulating and taxing online gambling in the Commonwealth of Virginia could generate, and start thinking about all of the good things they could do with that kind of money. Frankly, in Virginia, as in most states, it could just be a matter of time before all online gambling is state sanctioned. Until that world comes, however, Virginia bettors are well served with the options they have at the moment.