Maryland’s sports betting market is getting a fresh face this summer. LetsBetMD launched on Monday with an emphasis on esports, hoping to carve out a profitable space in a competitive field.
Behind the curtain, LetsBetMD is under the license of Veterans Services Corporation (VSC) who has partnered with Bee-Fee LLC. Bee-Fee, a London company with no licenses in the U.S., supplies the betting platform, among other things.
Veterans Services Corporation has a history in the DMV that bettors in Washington, D.C. are fully aware of. VSC and Intralot were the companies behind GambetDC, the only online sportsbook in the nation’s capital (unless you were near one of D.C.’s few retail locations). That operator struggled to see the quantity of wagers they expected when they were awarded the monopoly. Now after replacing GambetDC with FanDuel, they are considering further changes.
A tough road ahead
Maryland, like most other legal betting states, is dominated by FanDuel and DraftKings. Two months ago, these two sportsbooks controlled 79% of the online market. If you add the other big names (BetMGM and Caesars) that number jumps to 90.8%.
In May, there were 12 mobile operators, which means that the remaining eight were fighting for just 10% of the money.
On top of that, Betfred Sportsbook recently announced it's leaving Maryland, a sign of the difficulty in the Old Line State.
They also aren’t the first sportsbook to be unique in Maryland sports betting, Crab Sports chose the state to develop a niche audience and they are sitting at the bottom of the list of operators.
LetsBetMD currently has a quick shortcut on their app that directs bettors to esport games, a function not found easily with the other sportsbooks.
