Maryland Lottery and Gaming reported $32.5 million in sports betting handle for January in the state’s first full month of retail wagering, according to figures released Thursday.
The handle was nearly double the $16.5 million in wagers from December, when the five retail sportsbooks across the state opened their doors in staggered fashion. The quintet followed up a strong debut with a second straight double-digit hold at 13.5%, claiming close to $4.4 million in gross gaming revenue and $4.3 million in adjusted gross revenue..
While deductions more than doubled from December to more than $80,000, the state was still able to collect $644,098 in tax receipts that are earmarked for the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Fund supporting public education. Maryland taxes the sportsbooks’ adjusted revenue at 15%.
In the first month-plus of wagering, Maryland bettors have generated slightly more than $49 million handle, with operators claiming more than $7.4 million for a healthy 15.4% win rate.
Live! is tops in handle, MGM in revenue
Live! Casino, which has FanDuel as its operator, again claimed the No. 1 spot for handle, which more than doubled from $7.1 million in December to $14.3 million. It was the only one of the five books that failed to notch a 10% hold, however, falling just short at 9.94% while clearing more than $1.4 million in gross gaming revenue.
MGM National Harbor was the only other venue to reach an eight-figure handle with $10.6 million, and its 16.4% hold resulted in the current all-time state high of more than $1.6 million in gross revenue. Caesars was a comfortable third in both handle and revenue, with $4.7 million and nearly $840,000 respectively, and had the highest hold at 17.82%.
TwinSpires, which operates out of Ocean Downs, was right behind Caesars (Horseshoe in Baltimore) with a 17.8% win rate and finished fourth in gross revenue at just over $250,000 from slightly more than $1.4 million wagered. Barstool Sportsbook, based at Hollywood Casino in Perryville, rounded out the group in revenue with $210,124 while edging out TwinSpires for fourth in handle with more than $1.5 million in wagers.
It appears the December launch intrigued plenty of bettors for this weekend’s Super Bowl, as Maryland Lottery and Gaming noted the current win rate for settled wagers since launch is 10.6%, compared to the 15.4% against traditional handle. The state agency, however, does not break out wagers by sport.
