West Virginia sports betting faces trouble

Mardi Gras Casino and the Wheeling Island venue have yet to launch their sportsbooks after they suspended their activity.

US.- March Madness is already happening and sports betting is legal in West Virginia. However, two venues in the state will remain off business after they were forced to shut down their sportsbooks.

Both the Mardi Gras Casino and the Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack will have to sit out the NCAA basketball tournament. Operator Delaware North faces a contractual dispute that forced its operations to go offline and hasn’t solved it yet.

West Virginia sports betting launched after lawmakers legalised it and the Supreme Court struck PASPA down, but operators will miss out on a most profitable event.

According to West Virginia Lottery Director John Myers Delaware North is negotiating with their technology vendor to launch. “It is now apparent that wagering will not resume in time for the early rounds of (March Madness),” he stated.

The contract dispute

The casinos’ owner explained its technology platform provider (Miomni Gaming) “encountered a contract dispute with a third-party technology supplier,” which forced them to suspend their operations.

The casino owner apologised for taking such a decision but clarified that they would be “honouring and redeeming all resulted bets and are working to determine a timeframe to restoration.”

It still remains unknown what type of legal issue has forced the parties to decide to suspend taking sports wagers.