Sportsbooks in Maryland continued their roll against the betting public in January as operators claimed $59.6 million in gross revenue, according to figures released Monday by Maryland Lottery and Gaming.
The $441.5 million handle pushed the Old Line State over the $1 billion mark since launch in December 2021, though the amount wagered during the second full month with mobile availability dipped 11.2% compared to the $497.1 million bet in December. Promotional wagers accounted for $21.8 million of that total, a steep drop-off of nearly $50 million from when the state’s seven mobile sportsbooks aggressively courted the new market.
The 13.5% overall hold marked the seventh consecutive month the house posted a 13% or higher win rate — nearly double the industry standard of 7%. In the two-plus months mobile sports wagering has been available in Maryland, the hold has been 16.1%, with operators claiming $175.4 million in gross revenue from $1.1 billion in wagers.
Between promotional spend and net loss carryover some operators were permitted to deduct, the adjusted gross revenue for January was $14.1 million. Mobile sportsbooks are allowed unlimited deductions for the first 12 months of operation in Maryland and then limited to 20% of the prior year’s taxable win. The state was able to collect $2.1 million in tax receipts for the month, a nearly five-fold increase from December.
FanDuel, DraftKings pack strong 1-2 punch
Running January 2023 Top 10 #SportsBetting handles by state:
1 MARYLAND $441.48M <-NEW
2 Indiana $427.15M
3 IOWA $233.62M <-NEW
4 Kansas $206.06M
5 Oregon $62.33M
6 West Virginia $44.77M
7 Delaware $8.46M
8 Montana $7.14M
9 TBD
10 TBD#GamblingTwitter— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) February 13, 2023
Though only four of Maryland’s seven mobile operators posted double-digit holds in January, the books with the three biggest handles — FanDuel, DraftKings, and BetMGM — were among them while also posting the three highest win rates.
FanDuel claimed $33.7 million in gross revenue from $208.9 million handle, resulting in a 16.1% hold. While its promotional spend of $9.8 million was just 25% of its $39.6 million outlay in December, it still was comfortably the most of any operator in the state. Its tax payment of $1.5 million accounted for more than 70% of Maryland’s total sports wagering taxes.
DraftKings was the only mobile operator not to pay taxes in January as it continues to carry over net adjusted revenue losses from the first two months. It did have a strong January, though, claiming $15.6 million in gross revenue from $131.9 million in accepted bets for an 11.8% hold. It had a promotional outlay of $7.2 million in January and will be carrying over $5.7 million in adjusted revenue for February.
BetMGM and PointsBet were able to erase their adjusted losses and pay mobile taxes for the first time. BetMGM grossed $5.3 million from $40.7 million handle for a 13% win rate. Its $1.9 million in adjusted revenue for January wiped out the nearly $975,000 in losses it carried into the month, which resulted in the state being able to levy its 15% tax rate on $967,417 in overall adjusted revenue.
PointsBet, which had modest losses of slightly more than $65,000 the first two months, swung into the black as its promotional spend lessened by half a million dollars. The Aussie-baseed book’s first tax bill in Maryland came to $2,971, as it had nearly $20,000 in adjusted revenue after totaling $450,000 in gross revenue from $5.8 million handle.
Barstool Sportsbook was the other operator to finish with a double-digit hold, landing at 11.4% to claim $1.4 million in gross revenue from $12.6 million in accepted bets. The PENN Entertainment-backed book cleared $1 million in monthly adjusted revenue for the first time.
Caesars Sportsbook and BetRivers narrowly missed the 7% industry standard hold, checking in at 6.8% and 6.9%, respectively. Caesars reaped $1.4 million in gross revenue from $20 million in accepted wagers, while BetRivers had slightly more than $193,000 in revenue from close to $2.8 million handle.
Retail hold dips at Horseshoe and Live!
The statewide hold on retail sports wagering was a more modest 8.3% on $18.8 million wagered in January, thanks to strong efforts by the betting public at two of the three largest venues.
Live! Casino was limited to a 2.6% win rate — its lowest in history — as it kept less than $160,000 of its $6.1 million handle. Horseshoe Baltimore was also kept in check, as it barely cleared $90,000 in revenue from $2.1 million wagered for a hold under 4.3%. MGM National Harbor, however, ran its streak of double-digit holds to seven months at 12.4% for January, as it claimed close to $906,000 from $7.3 million worth of bets.
Maryland Stadium Sub at FedEx Field in Landover reported $140,000 handle and had a crushing debut with a hold of 32.2% to keep $45,000 of that amount. The 10th retail sports wagering venue in the state, the Fanatics-powered sportsbook opened in late January and is the first to be located inside an NFL stadium.
