Mobile sports betting, delayed in West Virginia

Sports betting in West Virginia won’t have a mobile version yet as it continues to be delayed and it now targets the NFL season, in September, to launch.

US.- The sports betting segment is taking over the US and its mobile version may soon arrive in West Virginia. However, it continues to be delayed.

According to West Virginia Lottery Director John Myers, there hasn’t been significant movement in the mobile sports betting segment. He had recently advanced the process will delay the launch for weeks. He also explained they are studying the location of the system’s servers, to ensure they aren’t against the Act’s requirements.

“The location of one of the servers was in question during the testing period,” he said as quoted by MetroNews. “I think we have agreement among everybody that that needs to be located in the state of West Virginia in order to make sure that there is not an issue or violation of the Federal Wire Act.”

The servers are in Charles Town (bet server) and New Jersey (wallet server).

Penn National, Charles Town’s Hollywood Casino’s owner, is working with its sports betting vendor on a new app. “The dates we’re hearing now are probably in the fall. Anyone we talk to now is probably saying football season (September),” Myers said.

Casino licences renewal

In addition to his comments about mobile gaming, Myers also announced the decision to renew five casino licences.

“All of the licence fees were paid,” Myers was quoted by MetroNews. 

Mountaineer Casino in Chester, Hollywood Casino at Charles Town, Wheeling Island Casino and Mardi Gras Casino in Cross Lanes will pay an annual licensing fee is US$2.5 million. The fee for the casino at The Greenbriers is calculated annually and this year it’s US$500k.

“We’re glad to see they’re all well enough to re-up for another year,” the director stated.