West Virginia online casino fans, you now have a choice for which operator you use for your online blackjack, slots and other gameplay. The BetMGM WV casino app is ready to welcome you.
The catalog of 30 games may not yet contain one type of popular games players crave, but this iGaming channel does introduce something else to the Mountain State. Perhaps most conveniently, access may already be in your pocket.
Details on the BetMGM casino app in WV
If you have BetMGM WV Sportsbook, there’s nothing else for you to do. The BetMGM WV Android and iOS apps’ latest update adds a dedicated casino tab.
Website users can easily find a casino tab as well. BetMGM launches today, boasting “the widest range of online casino games currently available in the Mountain State.”
The iGaming product is a joint venture of MGM Entertainment’s ROAR Digital and GVC Holdings. With this launch, one of The Greenbrier’s online casino skins is now officially in use as well.
“The addition of the leading iGaming offering in West Virginia is a powerful differentiator for BetMGM,” said Adam Greenblatt, CEO of BetMGM.
“With the largest slate of casino games in the state, we’re confident that our superior offering will quickly become the online gaming destination of choice for players.”
Among these initial 30 offerings that Greenblatt referenced are:
Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the new product is the linkage of BetMGM’s games to progressive jackpots. Those have helped BetMGM Casino become an increasingly popular option for casino fans in another state.
Replicating New Jersey wins in West Virginia
Since its launch in New Jersey, BetMGM has helped its facility partner, Borgata Atlantic City, rise to become third in iGaming market share. Progressive jackpots are part of that story.
For example, an NJ woman staked $2 playing BetMGM’s “Luck O’ The Jackpot” earlier this month. She ended up claiming a record $3.2 million prize. That’s the stuff gambling dreams are made of.
While claiming a 17% market share may not sound like much, it translates into a good chunk of revenue for the company. The NJ online gaming segment produced over $85 million in revenue in July alone.
It may take a while for the online casinos in WV to reach that height, but early indicators have been good. BetMGM enters at a great time as well.
Please note that number is handle, not win. Online casinos pay out almost all the handle in winnings. So if it’s not a high-profit business, why are online gambling companies fighting to become the dominant player in the segment?
Market share signifies companies controlling the market for the product. It’s really very similar to owning the majority of the shares of a publicly-traded company.
A person who owns more than half of a company that does hundreds of millions of dollars in sales each year, even if that revenue doesn’t produce a lot of profit, has a valuable asset. That person can leverage that asset to make further investments.
In the same way, if BetMGM, DraftKings, or another operator yet to emerge establishes a dominant position in the WV online casino market at maturity, that will strengthen its worth.
Both DraftKings and MGM are publicly-traded companies, so maximizing their online casino revenue has a positive snowball effect. More revenue means better earnings reports. That, in turn, leads to higher stock prices which attract more investors, and so on.
Both companies’ WV online casino products currently lack one popular component of online gambling products in other states. That fact may leave room for other brands to challenge them for market share later.
Still room for Flutter to possibly make waves
Neither BetMGM’s nor DraftKings’ WV casino apps have video poker games — at least not yet. Those are most popular among online poker players in the US.
Quite conveniently, there is another potential player in this market with both the motive and the opportunity to swoop in and fill that niche. Flutter Entertainment, parent company to FanDuel Casino, might soon make WV poker players’ hearts, well, “all aflutter.”
Like BetMGM, Flutter has a market access deal in WV with The Greenbrier for sports betting. FanDuel occupies that skin. As previously mentioned, The Greenbrier still has two more skins to use for iGaming.
Thus, Flutter could fill both of those skins. The first could go to FanDuel’s own casino platform and the other to Flutter’s popular poker product, PokerStars.
If Flutter goes that route, it’s likely to hit the ground running on grabbing the largest share of the online poker market in WV. As of right now, Flutter hasn’t shared any intent to do so, however.
For the time being, it’s a two-way competition for WV online casino players’ loyalties. BetMGM is counting on its progressive jackpots and volume of games to make it the king of that jungle.
Derek Helling is a lead writer for PlayUSA and the manager of BetHer. He is a 2013 graduate of the University of Iowa and covers the intersections of sports with business and the law.
If you have BetMGM WV Sportsbook, there’s nothing else for you to do. The BetMGM WV Android and iOS apps’ latest update adds a dedicated casino tab.
