For the first month of the year, operators accepted nearly $500m in wagers, taking the commonwealth’s betting market to new heights.

Bettors wagered approximately $485.5m during January, exceeding October’s prior record-setting sum of $427.3m, according to data released by the Virginia Lottery.

Dan Stupp, Lead Analyst for PlayVirginia.com, commented: “Five weekends of football, which included an extra week of regular season football and expanded NFL playoffs, were unquestionably a boon for sportsbooks in January.

“Sportsbooks will begin to slow down after March Madness, but the industry made a giant leap forward during the football season, and that has it on solid footing for the year ahead.”

January’s betting action was up nearly 14% from December’s $426.6m, while average daily wagering grew to $15.7m per day from $13.8m.

From this, sportsbooks won $39.1m, the second highest gross revenue in Virginia’s history and up 24% from December’s $31.5m.

After deducting costs, of which nearly $17m went towards promotional spending, sportsbooks generated $18.2m in taxable revenue, which in turn yielded almost $3m for the state’s coffers.

The first month of 2022 also marked the first full year of sports betting in Virginia, which went live on 21 January 2021.

While the state’s wagering market is still in its infancy, betting volume has more than doubled since launch.

“Virginia’s sportsbooks still have significant room for growth,” said Eric Ramsey, an analyst for the PlayUSA.com Network, which includes PlayVirginia.com.

“Over the last five months, operators have continued to expand their reach to new customers. But just as important, individual bettors are wagering more than a year ago as they become more familiar with the myriad products online sportsbooks are offering.”