VA Wagers Billions Of Dollars On Sports: What To Know

A majority of Americans think sports gambling — which is legal in Virginia and all but about a dozen other U.S. jurisdictions — “lessens the integrity of the game,” according to a recent poll.

A majority of respondents to the NBC News Decision Desk poll released late last year also found that a majority of respondents think the increasing availability of sports gambling “will lead to games being fixed or rigged.”

Gamblers in Virginia have wagered $25,995,009,811 on sports from January through mid-November 2025, according to a running tally of wagers kept by Legal Sports Report, which provides news, analysis and data on legal online sports vetting.

The NBC poll was conducted from Nov. 20 to Dec. 8, within weeks of major sports gambling scandals involving professional basketball and baseball players.

NBA journeyman Terry Rozier was arrested on Oct. 23 for allegedly conspiring with gamblers, providing inside information for bets on his performance, and even feigning injury to exit a game early to help bettors wagering on him failing statistical benchmarks. Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were arrested in November, accused of conspiring with gamblers who wagered on individual pitches they threw during games.

In 2018 the U.S. Supreme Court opened the floodgate to legalized sports gambling when it struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. The 1992 law barred state-authorized sports gambling, making Nevada the only state where a person could wager on the results of a single game.

Now, 40 states and the District of Columbia have some form of legalized sport gambling.

Sports betting launches in Virginia on Jan. 21, 2021. The state joins Tennessee as an online-only sports betting state. The market quickly expands to nine online sportsbooks, including top companies like FanDuel, BetMGM and DraftKings. Two mirror-image bills pass through the Virginia House and Senate to clarify some of the elements of the sports betting law, including that the casinos’ licenses do not count against the 12-sportsbook limit that the law originally established.

The citizens of Richmond vote to not allow a casino inside the city, so the number of retail casinos (and sportsbooks) that will appear in Virginia is now capped at four locations.

In January 2023, a proposal to build a casino in the Tysons area of Fairfax County came to light, which has been opposed by a majority of residents in the area.

In January 2025, Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-Mount Vernon) introduced Senate Bill 982, shepherding it through the Gaming Subcommittee and the General Laws & Technology and Appropriations Committees. SB 982 failed for the 2025 session after a House of Delegates subcommittee in February declined to consider the legislation.

So far, no state senator or delegate has pre-filed legislation for the 2026 session that would give the board of supervisors the ability to add a casino referendum to a future ballot, Patch reported a month ago.

In an email to constituents, State Sen. Jennifer Boysko (D) said in December 2025 it was her understanding that the casino referendum bill would be re-introduced, and she would again strongly oppose it.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted Dec. 9 to add language to its 2026 Legislative Program expressing opposition to potential legislation in the Virginia General Assembly that would pave the way for a casino to be built in Tysons.

In 2024, sports bets at old-school brick-and-mortar sportsbooks or a new crop of legal online channels brought in $13,71 billion in revenue in 2024, up $11.04 billion from 2023, according to the American Gaming Association.

In the period from January to mid-November 2025, Maryland bets brought in $1,917,762,237, according to Legal Sports Report.

As wagering stands now, Virginia ranks eighth in the amount of money wagered. The top 10 states for sports gambling are:

1. New York
2. New Jersey
3. Illinois
4. Nevada
5. Pennsylvania
6. Arizona
7. Colorado
8. Virginia
9. Indiana
10. Ohio

It’s not just the integrity of MLB, NFL, NBA and other leagues with official gambling partners at stake. In September, the NCAA banned three men’s college basketball players who share thousands of dollars in payouts after betting on their own games at Fresno State and San Jose State.

The NCAA has strict rules regarding participation in sports wagering and prohibits student athletes, coaches, or athletics staff members from providing information that could influence a bet in any sport the NCAA sponsors at any level.

However, beginning Nov. 1, the NCAA allowed athletes and athletic department staff members to bet on professional sports. Although it has long held that sports gambling threatens the well-being of student athletes and the integrity of competition, the NCAA concedes that placing wagers on the outcome is one of the ways fans consume sports,

“This change recognizes the realities of today’s sports environment without compromising our commitment to protecting the integrity of college competition or the well-being of student-athletes,” Roberta Page, director of athletics at Slippery Rock and chair of the Division II Management Council, told ESPN.

Even youth sports aren’t immune. It’s illegal to bet on youth sports in the United States, but offshore sportsbooks saw a rapid rise in Little League World Series bets. None of the other jurisdictions where the organization operates permits wagering on youth sports.

Citing the ethical concerns of placing wagers on a game involving 12-year-olds, Little League International strongly condemned a rapid rise in Little League World Series bets. None of the other jurisdictions where the organization operates permits wagering on youth sports.

“While Little League International continues to monitor the complexity and ever-evolving world of sports betting, we feel strongly that there is no place for betting on Little League games or on any youth sports competition. Little League is a trusted place where children are learning the fundamentals of the games and all the important life lessons that come with having fun, celebrating teamwork, and playing with integrity, and no one should be exploiting the success and failures of children playing the game they love for their own personal gain,” the organization said in a statement earlier this year.

What do you think about the growth of sports betting? Do you think it compromises the integrity of the game? Join the conversation in the comments below.