The Maryland Lottery released January’s sports betting numbers on Friday, with sportsbooks in the Old Line State accepting $441.5 million in wagers — and the majority ($422.6 million) coming from online sports betting sites.
This represented an 11.2% decrease from the previous month, although the $59.6 million in legal sports betting revenue (on a 13.5% win rate) is an even steeper 30% decline from December's $85.2 million in revenue.
Maryland sports betting finally included mobile wagering on November 23, 2022, so it will take time for the sports betting landscape to normalize after the initial influx in wagers and the pullback in sports betting promotions.
Promotional drop-off = favorable tax bill
Promotional play seems to have been a catalyst for the change in numbers compared to last month.
Maryland allows operators to deduct promos from their taxable revenue, as in the state’s first full month of mobile betting there was $71 million in deductions as operators enticed more action.
January’s promo deductions fell by 60% to $21.8 million, and while bettors missed out on the promo pull-back, Maryland’s government saw the kind of tax bill they expected — the $2.1 million in paid taxes was nearly double the contributions of November and December... combined.
In December, the majority of the paid taxes came from retail betting (89.8% of $440,043) but the first month of 2023 saw mobile contribute 89.3% of the tax bill ($1.9 million).
Sportsbooks are taxed at a 15% rate that goes exclusively to the state’s educational Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Fund.
Top Sportsbooks
One thing that did not change from December to January was the order of Maryland’s top operators.
MGM National Harbor (BetMGM) led the retail sportsbooks with $7.3 million in wagers, following Maryland Live! Casino (FanDuel) at $6 million, and then Horseshoe Casino (Caesars) at $2.1 million.
On the mobile side, FanDuel stayed on top with $208.8 million in bets, a 12% month-over-month drop. DraftKings came in second with $131.9 million (16% decline), while BetMGM was third at $40.7 million, a 4% decrease.
January also saw a new operator join the fold, as the long-anticipated Fanatics Sportsbook debut became a reality with a late-January launch of a retail sportsbook in FedEx Field (home of the Washington Commanders).
In their 11 days in operation, they accepted $140,605 in bets with a 32% hold.
Most recently, Betfred launched its Maryland sportsbook this month — and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Maryland’s Lottery and Gaming Control Commission accepted the applications for SuperBook, Bally Bet, and WynnBET, along with four other operators.
There is no timetable for their launches.
