Sports gambling was first legalized in the United States in September of 2019. Since this time, it has rapidly grown in legality and popularity as each state has gone through their own process to roll it out to the general public. 36 of the 50 states have officially made sports betting legal with Virginia officially making this decision in 2020.
On July 1st, 2020 Governor Ralph Northam signed the bill into law making it the first state in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area to legalize sports gambling. Since this time, the infrastructures to support sports gambling have rapidly been put in place with each sports gambling company having to go through their own processes to make their services available.
Which Sportsbooks are available in Virginia?
According to online gambling news site VA Betting, 15 legal Virginia betting sites that are live and active. This includes Caesars, BetRivers, FanDuel, BetMGM, bet365, WynnBET, PointsBet, Barstool, Bally Bet, Unibet, and more. DraftKings is also legal for all online sports bets. They also launched a DK Horse app which is the first-ever horse racing product, which is currently only available in 12 states.
Virginia also became just the third state to license and operate Betr, which is a micro-betting-focused mobile app co-founded by internet celebrity Jake Paul. This app purely puts a focus on betting individual plays and drives rather than full game results.
Betting on the XFL:
Not all sportsbooks offer XFL betting at this time, but steps are being taken to make this more available. There are several slight differences that should be kept in mind when betting the XFL in comparison to the NFL. For example, there are no kicked extra points in the XFL. Instead, teams can try for between one and three extra points by making a play from the two, five, or 10-yard line following a touchdown.
There also are some less significant changes between the two leagues. In the XFL you are allowed to throw two forward passes in a play if the first pass is completed behind the line of scrimmage. The XFL also always has a running clock unless there is a timeout or the two-minute warning.
While the integrity of the sport remains the same, these are subtle differences to keep in mind when placing a wager.
Most Popular Types of XFL Bets:
Moneyline Bets:
The simplest type of betting is the moneyline which means wagering on which team will win the game. The team with negative odds (ex/ -150) is considered the favorite while the team with positive odds (+175) are the underdog.
Spreads Bets:
The point spread is designed to create a 50/50 scenario for the bookmaker to get an even number of bets on each side. This also creates a more even playing field as, for the bet to cash, the favorite must win by the set amount of points. On the other side, you can bet the underdog to cover the spread and only lose by a certain number of points. For example, if you bet the New York Guardians +6 they must lost by fewer than six points or win the game for the bet to cash.
Totals Bets:
Wagers on the total are not impacted by the game‘s result and are based on the combined points scored between the two teams. If the over/under is set at 45 and the two teams combine for more than this, the over will hit. However, if they are held to under 45 points the under will cash.
Futures & Prop Bets:
In addition to the traditional ways to wager on games, there are several future and prop bets to properly quantify the beliefs you want to wager on. The top futures bets include who will win the championship or be crowned MVP.
There are several prop bets such as which player will score a touchdown, how many passing or receiving yards, and the total points for each team. There are more ways to wager popping up every day and you can find a way to make the game more interesting in just about every way you could desire.
