Expansion of LVL machines fuels strong revenue for WV Lottery in November
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Preliminary revenue figures show November was another strong month for the West Virginia Lottery, director John Myers said Wednesday.
Myers said another month of near-record Limited Video Lottery play at bars and clubs, improving revenue and attendance figures at casinos, and continued strong sales of traditional Lottery scratch-off and draw tickets pushed November gross revenue to $101.47 million. That brings total year-to-date revenue to $529.4 million for the first five months of the 2021-22 budget year, up about $78 million from the same point in 2020.
“It was a good revenue month. We’re really pleased with how things are going,” Myers said after Wednesday’s Lottery Commission meeting.
With the meeting date pushed up a week because of the Christmas holiday, final revenue figures for November were not available Wednesday.
However, Myers said LVL revenue for November totaled $38.61 million, good enough for the 13th highest month on record, even though it is down about $2.6 million from October LVL revenue.
Limited Video Lottery has performed strongly during the pandemic, including setting all-time monthly records in excess of $50 million for the months of March and April 2021.
Myers has said he believes players have felt more comfortable during the pandemic going into neighborhood bars and clubs with relatively small numbers of people, as opposed to visiting large racetrack casinos.
He said revenues for racetrack video lottery and casino table games are improving, but are still not back to pre-pandemic levels.
Limited Video Lottery has also benefited from a change in the law increasing the maximum number of machines permitted in bars and clubs from seven to 10, and by the decision earlier this year to bid out the maximum 9,000 10-year LVL machine licenses permitted by law. When the 10-year licenses were previously rebid, only 8,000 permits were issued.
Getting the 1,000 additional machines delivered to the state and brought online has been a challenge, Myers said, particularly with a worldwide computer chip shortage slowing the production of the machines.
“We’ve been catching up constantly with the installations required with all the new permits issued this year,” he told the commission.
As of Wednesday, there were 8,367 LVL machines online, with installation pending on 108 machines and delivery pending on another 400 to 500 machines, he said.
A year ago, there were 7,465 LVL machines in operation.
Lottery deputy director David Bradley said installing a new machine is a multi-step process, requiring approval of floor plans, verification that all retailer licenses and permits are in order, and authorization from the Lottery’s Security Division.
“We’re just overwhelmed right now. We’ve got a lot of work orders,” he said.
“It’s overwhelming, but it’s a good kind of overwhelming,” Bradley added, noting that more machines will mean more revenue for the state.
Also in November, sports betting and i-gaming apps licensed by The Greenbrier casino continued to dominate the state's mobile gaming market.
The i-gaming apps -- which permit play of virtual slot and table games on cellphones and computers -- licensed to The Greenbrier brought in $3.54 million in November, accounting for 54% of the state total of $6.5 million. Apps licensed to Hollywood Casino at Charles Town brought in $2.19 million for the month.
Likewise, The Greenbrier’s sports betting apps brought in $2.63 million, accounting for 54% of the state market total of $4.9 million. Hollywood Casino brought in $1.92 million, while sports betting apps affiliated with the three other state casinos had total combined revenue of less than $400,000.
