Maryland casinos kicked off retail sports betting in December 2021 with nearly $16.5 million in total wagers after a mid-month launch.
The Maryland sportsbooks kept 19.2% of those wagers (“hold“), or about $3.2 million. Maryland bettors, meanwhile, maintained the remaining $13.4 million as players’ win.
On Monday, Maryland Lottery and Gaming released the first batch of sports betting revenue numbers for the state. And there was a lot of reason for optimism.
With the December 2021 sports betting, Maryland will collect nearly $470,000 in taxes. It’ll go to the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Fund, which supports public education.
But based on Maryland’s early success, much more money should be headed to the state’s coffers in 2022.
Maryland sports betting launches in December 2021
The MD sports betting market officially kicked off on Dec. 9 when Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (seen above) placed the first wager at MGM National Harbor. The Oxon Hill casino, which is located just outside of Washington, DC, offers the BetMGM Sportsbook experience at the BetMGM Sports Book & Lounge.
The following day, Dec. 10, Horseshoe Casino Baltimore then took its first wager. The Baltimore casino partnered with Caesars Maryland Sportsbook for its operations.
However, Live! Casino & Hotel (teamed with FanDuel Sportsbook in Maryland), which also launched on Dec. 10, took the top spot with more than $7.1 million in total wagers. The Hanover was also one of the top properties for Maryland casino revenue for December 2021.
Here’s the full breakdown of December 2021 sports betting in MD:
| Handle | Prized Paid | Hold % | Promotion Play | Other Deductions | Taxable Win | Taxes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Live! Casino & Hotel | $7,102,945 | $5,729,816 | 19.3% | $0 | $17,760 | $1,355,369 | $203,305 |
| MGM National Harbor | $5,988,942 | $4,998,463 | 16.5% | $0 | $15,277 | $975,203 | $146,280 |
| Horseshoe Casino Baltimore | $2,587,324 | $2,045,838 | 20.9% | $0 | $6,130 | $535,356 | $80,303 |
| Ocean Downs | $554,218 | $384,906 | 30.5% | $0 | $1,376 | $167,936 | $25,190 |
| Hollywood Casino Perryville | $319,001 | $223,407 | 30.0% | $0 | $798 | $94,796 | $14,219 |
| TOTALS | $16,552,430 | $13,382,430 | 19.2% | $0 | $41,341 | $3,128,660 | $469,297 |
Those casinos’ sportsbooks were followed by Ocean Downs (TwinSpires) on Dec. 17 and Hollywood Casino Perryville (Barstool Sportsbook) on Dec. 23. Ocean Downs, the only other MD casino, has no immediate plans to offer sports wagering.
So, how does Maryland compare to other states with retail sports betting? New York had a massive launch over the weekend for online betting. But before then, the state offered only retail betting as Maryland does. Yet, despite New Yorkers’ obvious appetite for sports betting, Maryland needed just three weeks to tally the amount of wagering dollars that NY books took four months to collect.
The long wait for online sports betting in MD
When talking about Maryland’s December 2021 sports betting numbers, it’s impossible not to look ahead.
Retail betting, aka in-person betting, is a nice way for MD casinos to bring in new customers. And even more retail sports betting outlets, including sports bars and OTBs in Maryland, are on the way.
However, sports bettors and state officials are obviously counting down the days to the launch of online sports betting in Maryland.
However, even by the most optimistic estimates, officials don’t expect online betting to be up and running in the Old Line State until the start of the football season in September 2022.
In jurisdictions with both online and retail betting, online sports betting usually accounts for the overwhelming majority of wagering. Online betting accounted for nearly 87% of the $50.1 billion legally bet in the US in 2021.
In other words, despite the Maryland casinos’ sports-betting success in December 2021, it should pale compared to what the market produces a year from now. Once online betting operators can collect bets statewide with no in-person transactions, the market’s growth could really explode.
Still, even with $16.5 million in wagers during a partial first month in December 2021, Maryland is already a top-20 US market for legal sports betting.
