Virginia Lottery releases full draft regulations for sports betting

The full draft of sports betting regulations was released for public comment yesterday by the Virginia Lottery. The document incorporates the initial regulations regarding consumer protections, a “Sports Bettor’s Bill of Rights,” and the application process that was previously released on July 15.

The proposed regulations released for comment today deal with topics including operations, internal controls and enforcement. The Virginia Lottery Board is accepting public comments regarding the regulations through September 9.

The Lottery Board was assigned regulatory responsibility for sports betting and casinos in the Commonwealth by the 2020 General Assembly. The deadline for the Board to approve final sports betting regulations is September 15. After that, applications for licenses will be accepted beginning in October. Licensed mobile platforms could begin offering the first legal wagers on sports in Virginia in January 2021.

The full regulations can be viewed at the Virginia Lottery website. Anyone interested in submitting feedback on the regulations prior to the close of the public comment period in September can access the Lottery General Notice at https://www.townhall.virginia.gov/.

“The Virginia Lottery takes very seriously its role assigned by the General Assembly to appropriately and responsibly regulate sports betting in the Commonwealth,” said Virginia Lottery Executive Director Kevin Hall. “The regulatory framework we are building now is vital to the process, and we are committed to doing so with transparency to allow stakeholders and the public to weigh-in on these preliminary rules-of-the-road for sports wagering in Virginia.”

The Lottery is authorized to issue up to 12 licenses for internet-only sports betting platforms. The statute permits betting on most major league and college sports, though wagers on games involving teams from Virginia colleges and universities are banned. Sports betting operators must verify customers are at least 21 years old and physically located in Virginia to legally place an online sports bet.

The Lottery, as the Commonwealth’s regulator of new sports betting and casino gaming activities, has a microsite providing key information and public transparency on issues around expanded gaming. The site www.valottery.com/casinosandsportsbetting includes information about the rulemaking process and estimated timelines for when expanded gaming will become available in Virginia.

Authorized by Virginia voters in a successful 1987 referendum, the Virginia Lottery generates more than $1.7 million per day for Virginia’s K-12 public schools.