Australia-based mobile sports betting and gaming company BlueBet has today announced its plans to withdraw its application to open a sportsbook in Virginia. This news comes after the Virginia Lottery informed the gaming company that it was not likely to be eligible for a license.
The Virginia Lottery cited their decision as part of its commitment to only give licenses to companies that are owned in part or in full by individuals from minority backgrounds, as well as companies that already operate within the US sports betting market.
Eighteen separate companies applied to the position with only five available.
Following this announcement, BlueBet’s shares were down more than 15% in this morning’s trade.
This setback comes just a week after the company failed in its pursuit of a sports betting license in Arizona. Despite this, BlueBet is already licensed to operate in Iowa, with Maryland, Colorado and Tennessee among the states it now plans to pursue following its failure in Virginia.
As things stand Virginia already has seven licensed sportsbooks: FanDuel, DraftKings, Caesars, WynnBet, BetMGM, Kindred owned Unibet and Rush Street Interactive.
July saw the Virginia sports betting market follow a national trend with a fall in revenue partly due to a lack of sporting events. The state’s total handle for July was $161.9m million, a month-over-month decrease of 31.1% from the $234.9m wagered in June.
