Virginia is nearly ready to officially go live with its sports betting market after the Virginia Lottery approved 27 companies that applied for licenses related to sports wagering services ranging from affiliate marketers, data suppliers, and payment providers.
Ensuring the Sports Betting Ecosystem
Among the companies awarded with a license are sports data suppliers such as market leader Sportradar, international payment processors like PayPal, Paysafe and Skrill, as well as marketing affiliate companies.
The state legalized sports betting in April last year after lawmakers approved amendments to bills SB384 and HB896 made by Gov. Northam and the bills were passed to become laws. The legalization also made provisions for the Virginia Lottery to develop necessary sports betting regulations and set rules for the license application process, as well as oversee the market which is now nearing its official launch.
The Virginia Lottery approved for sports betting-related services companies like Aristotle International, Simple Bet, The Action Network, CBS Interactive, Facebook, Cyxtera Communications, CAMS, Better Collective and the US subsidiary of Gambling.com group KAX Media America.
Media Troopers, Continent 8, Lineups.com, Media Players US, Occupy Fantasy, Onfido and Catena Operations were also among the list of companies which received their licenses by the state-run lottery.
Outkick Media, Sightline Payments, SportsContentCo, SWIMA, Topgolf Media, PayNearMe and Paysafecard.com USA completed the list of licensed business entities with regards to the upcoming official launch of sports betting in Virginia.
Awaiting for the First Sports Betting Operators
Earlier in the month, the Virginia Lottery signaled the state could see the first online sports betting licenses approved within the next few weeks, as the regulator was determined to allow state residents the ability to place wagers for the upcoming Super Bowl in February.
The lottery announced it would have to sift through all 25 applications it received during the 2-week application period in October 2020 and measure the contribution to the state of each applicant against a number of criteria as there are only 12 available licenses to give.
Among key factors for awarding sports betting operator license would be the level of protection for “consumers, athletes and taxpayers”, Virginia Lottery executive director Kevin Hall outlined, stressing on the importance that the state’s offer of sports betting is “in a safe and responsible way”.
Measures like safeguards to ensure strong consumer protection and prevent underage gambling, and procedures and audits to pare any attempts for criminal actions and tax evasion practices were also pinpointed by the lottery executive director as the areas where the state’s regulator would look to differentiate between the candidates.