West Virginia Gaming Control Board and Best VGCB Casinos

How Does the WV Gaming Control Board Work?

The WV Lottery Commission both licenses and regulates all legal gambling activity in the state. Only casinos or sportsbooks that have been approved by the Commission may legally accept players in West Virginia. 

This includes platforms from outside WV, although they need to operate under a license granted to a brick-and-mortar casino from within the state. 

Gambling in the state operates in accordance with the West Virginia Lottery Interactive Wagering Act, which was passed in early 2019. License holders must pay 15% tax on all gross gambling revenue, with the revenue used on a variety of socially beneficial projects. 

In addition to licensing, the WV Gaming Control Board monitors the actual games at online casinos in the state to make sure they are truly random and fair, protects player funds and data, and promotes responsible gaming.

Protecting the Players' Funds

The West Virginia GCB closely regulates who can deposit and withdraw funds at online casinos in the state, and what the casino can do with the money. 

Anyone who wishes to gamble online in the state must first establish an “interactive gaming account” - which effectively means they need to sign up to the casino while fulfilling certain criteria obligated by the Lottery.

All qualifying players need to have their identity fully verified, by submitting personal information including address, phone number and Social Security Number. 

West Virginia players can only deposit and withdraw funds from their account using GCB-approved banking methods, such as an ACH Transfer or a credit card payment. Casinos may not offer any type of payment that hasn’t been approved as being safe and reliable by the Lottery. 

The West Virginia GCB also protects a players’ right to cash out, preventing casinos from placing roadblocks in the way of its users when they want to withdraw their winnings. 

How to Apply for a WV GCB License

There are a couple of types of licenses available in WV GCB.

First of all, brick-and-mortar casinos in the state can apply for a Master License, which enables them to operate up to three online casino skins. Every casino in the state is eligible for this license, including:

• Hollywood Casino

• Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort

• Mardi Gras Casino & Resort

• Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack

• The Greenbrier Casino Club

The license comes with a $250,000 application fee, along with a $100,000 service fee and, every five years, a $100,000 renewal fee. 

Online casino platforms that agree to take up one of the three brick and mortar casino skins available must apply for a separate license with the Lottery. 

The following online casinos have so far been licensed in West Virginia:

• Draft Kings 

• BETMGM

• William Hill 

• Golden Nugget 

• Betfair 

• FanDuel 

• PointsBet 

• Penn Sports Interactive

• WynnBET

Complaints via the West Virginia Gaming Control Board

The West Virginia GCB has set down a process for all players wishing to make a complaint against a WV casino. 

First, the player should attempt to resolve their issue directly with the casino, via the platform’s conventional help or contact methods. The casino has 10 days to resolve the dispute, after which the casino is obligated to provide the player with the option to make a complaint to the West Virginia Lottery directly. 

The player should provide as much information as possible about their complaint, and may be asked to provide in-person evidence at the Lottery offices. The Lottery will then make a decision based on all the evidence provided. 

Alternatively, players can contact the West Virginia Lottery directly for more advice, at 

• Email: [email protected]

• Mail: PO Box 2067 Charleston, WV 25327

We do have one criticism here, which is that it’s a little hard to find details about how to make a complaint on the lottery website. We’d prefer to see a more obvious tool or section related to this. 

How I Find Safe WV GCB Online Casinos

Finding a safe online casino in West Virginia means only choosing ones that are licensed and regulated by the West Virginia Gaming Control Board. 

All the steps that the GCB takes in regard to online gambling in the state make the experience safer and fairer for players. 

Deposits and withdrawals are only possible via pre-approved and trustworthy payment methods. Casinos and casino staff must pass a screening process before they are allowed to accept bets. Every game at WV casinos - slots, table games, blackjack, roulette, video poker, and many more - is independently approved for fairness, and the casinos are obligated to track and report all the outcomes of all types of gambling.

As long as you are playing at a licensed and regulated casino, you can play with the peace of mind that all of the above and more have been signed off on by West Virginia as a state. 

Read the Player Reviews

Sometimes you need to hear things from the horse’s mouth. Choosing an online casino, means hearing from the players themselves about what makes them stand out, and any problems that they’ve had along the way. 

Public forums are a great place for this, as is social media. Lots of casinos are very active on social channels, and following them means you’ll see them engage directly with player feedback as well as find out about the latest upcoming bonuses and promotions. 

The Google Play Store and the App Store are also great resources for player reviews. If there are any problems with a casino app, you’ll find out about them pretty quickly if you check out the reviews on app stores. 

Check the Terms and Conditions

The West Virginia GCB provides a lot of consumer protection, but that doesn’t mean you should ever sign up to a casino blind, or trust them with your money without understanding how it works.

Claiming a welcome bonus is a perfect example of this. West Virginia casinos have some great offers for new players, but it’s extremely important to read the small print carefully so you understand exactly how they work. 

The Lottery permits casinos to offer bonuses and promotions, and stipulates that rules and the value of bonuses must be “readily available for its patrons”. This means that as long as you read the instructions and conditions carefully, you’ll avoid any nasty surprises down the line. 

Conditions like time limits on bonus offers, wagering requirements or turnover on bonus cash, and qualifying criteria are all factors to look out for. 

West Virginia GCB License: Responsible Gambling Measures

Promoting responsible gambling, as well as ensuring that the money generated from gambling in the state is used to benefit WV citizens, are both remits of the West Virginia GCB. 

All West Virginia online casinos have resources on their platforms to promote safe gambling and direct players to external organizations that can help them get the support they need. 

You’ll find a Problem Gambling section on the West Virginia Lottery website, which includes a link to the Problem Gambling Help Network of West Virginia. This organization provides a variety of support and advice to anyone who thinks they might have an issue with gambling. 

The Lottery also has a self-exclusion form, which you can use to request that you be banned from any gambling activity in the state. Our only slight criticism here is that both of these features are somewhat hard to find, and they could be given more prominence on the homepage or main menu.

You can also read about where money generated from gambling goes in West Virginia on the Lottery website, including the following:

• Schools and Education

• Senior Citizens

• Tourism and State Parks

My Opinion on the West Virginia GCB License

The West Virginia GCB provides an invaluable service for gambling fans in Mountain State. 

The rules and regulations around gambling in West Virginia, along with the standards all online casinos have to meet before they are granted a license to operate, are robust and in the interest of us as players. 

From monitoring the fairness of the games themselves to regulating what casinos and sportsbooks do with player funds and data, the Virginia Lottery acts to make gambling in the state safer and fairer for everyone. 

Our only mild criticism of the Lottery is that the website could do a couple of changes to make its services clearer and easier to use. A built-out Responsible Gambling section, and a more accessible complaint mechanism, would both be welcome. 

Still, overall we’re very happy with the services and security provided by the West Virginia GCB.

West Virginia GCB Casinos Frequently Asked Questions