Virginia Lottery reports 13.7% yearly growth in july sports wagering

Richmond, VA – August 29, 2025 – The Virginia Lottery has released its official sports wagering activity report for July 2025, and the numbers highlight strong growth in the state’s betting market. According to the report, registered accounts wagered approximately $429.3 million over the course of the month. This represents a 13.7% increase year-over-year compared to July 2024.

Out of the total amount wagered, nearly $379.8 million was returned to players in winnings, underscoring the scale of the betting ecosystem and the level of engagement among Virginia sports bettors. The results demonstrate that the sports wagering market in the Commonwealth continues to expand, attracting more users and contributing to the local economy.

Officials emphasized that the ongoing monitoring of wagering trends will play a crucial role in shaping regulatory approaches and ensuring a balanced market. With the NFL and college football seasons around the corner, expectations are high for even greater activity in the months ahead.

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LOTTO24 celebrates 11th birthday

LOTTO24 is celebrating its eleventh brand birthday today. In 2012, the company that was founded in Hamburg, Germany offered its online services nationwide for the first time. Just one year later, LOTTO24 had already established itself as the online market leader in the lottery sector in Germany. Another three years later, in 2016, one million loyal customers were already playing regularly at LOTTO24. Since 2019, the company has officially been part of the ZEAL Group.

Eleven years of record winnings

In eleven years of company history, LOTTO24 has already made more than 4.5 million customers dream and paid out a record winning sum of 1.2 billion euros. The last record winner was just a few weeks ago: In January, a 61-year-old LOTTO24 player from Bremerhaven in Germany hit the 107.5 million Eurojackpot, making it the biggest single win in the company's history.

Eleven years of commitment to a good cause

What many people don't know: Every ticket submitted to LOTTO24 over the past eleven years has supported charitable causes in the fields of education, health, culture and family. In addition, a large part of the proceeds from the social lotteries freiheit+ and German Dream House Lottery are also used to promote educational projects. In total, LOTTO24 has thus diverted more than EUR 1.2 billion to charitable causes over the past eleven years.

"We are proud of eleven extremely successful years of LOTTO24," said Jonas Mattsson, CFO of LOTTO24. "The density of winners among our customers is exceptionally high and we are delighted that we have made more than 4.5 million players dream over the past years. We will continue to keep our fingers crossed for all our customers in the future and continue to provide a convenient lottery experience with new products and features."

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Man in Iraq wins lottery jackpot in the United States

TORONTO - "Are you sure? Are you sure?" - M. from Baghdad couldn't quite believe his luck when he got the phone call to say he had won the CA$8.7 million jackpot in the Oregon Megabucks. He was driving in his car and was on his way to the bank. One can but wonder what he ended up telling his bank manager that day.

Last week M. picked up his prize at the Oregon Lottery offices in Salem, Oregon. The Iraqi winner opted to remain anonymous to keep himself and his loved ones out of harm's way and he will have the prize paid out in 25 installments of CA$350,000 before taxes.

Oregon state lottery spokesman Chuck Baumann spoke to the Associated Press and said that this was the first time in the lottery's history that a person living overseas had bought a Megabucks ticket online and struck it rich. He added that "the lottery has no restrictions on foreigners winning prizes or buying tickets through an online agent."

M. had ordered his tickets through a website which provides people from all over the world with a secure online purchasing service. The firm has established offices in the US and Europe physically purchasing official tickets on behalf of players from Canada and anywhere else on the planet.

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New OLG online gambling site goes live

TORONTO -- Ontario Lottery and Gaming has launched an online gambling site, CTV reported. The new site was subject to preview tests for several weeks, the report said. Players have to register to use the site and there are weekly maximum limits in place, CTV said. Lottery tickets are also available for purchase through the site, the report noted.

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Giant 'El Gordo' lottery grips Spain

SPAIN -- Spain's well known "El Gordo" lottery has been drawn, the BBC reported.

The "Fat One" lottery is an annual Christmas lottery and this year was worth $2.7bn.

Winners were from Madrid, Murcia, Valencia, Cadiz and one in the North West region, the BBC report detailed.

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Dutch Gambling Authority to partner with Malta

Online gambling will be regulated in Holland until the middle of next year, but the Dutch have signed a letter of intent to partner with Malta's Lotteries and Gaming Authority, according to Poker News. 

The Dutch plan to work closely with their European counterparts once the online regulation is in place, the report said.

They propose to implement a tax rate of 20 percent for online gaming operators, according to Poker News.

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Ireland: Lottery now in private ownership

DUBLIN - For the first time in 27 years the National Lottery in Ireland is privately owned, the Irish Times reported.

The new owner is Premier Lotteries Ireland, the report said.

The company is a partnership between An Post, the Irish post office and the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan who paid $405 million for the National Lottery, according to the Irish Times report.

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