It may have taken a long time for Maryland to launch sports betting apps, but since last November, online sportsbooks have been busy accepting wagers from eager customers in the state.
In April, $328.4 million was wagered on sports in Maryland, with 95.4% of that total coming from online sportsbooks, either through mobile apps or sports betting websites. Many of those bettors were able to claim Maryland betting bonuses. As a result, the state received nearly $4 million in taxes from operators in April.
While more than a dozen operators are jostling for position in the Maryland sports betting market, many sports bettors are feverishly using every tool available to research sportsbooks and place their wagers. Internet search data reveals that traffic around sports-related keywords has increased dramatically since late 2022.
Since December of 2022, for example, searches for “sportsbooks” has risen from an average interest score of 11 to 34 compared to the established level before Dec. 1, 2022, according to information from Google Trends. Some of the most searched keywords have included “FanDuel,” “DraftKings,” “parlay bets,” and most recently, “Fanatics.”
Parlay is most commonly searched Maryland sports betting term
Google Trends data is measured by “interest over time,” a proprietary metric that works on a scale of o to 100. The higher the score, the more searches and interest that keyword has. Trends data can be filtered to reveal the popularity of keywords from users in a specific country, state, or even county and city.
All the scores listed below are Google Trends Interest Over Time scores from Dec. 1, 2022, through May 29, 2023.
Parlays are the most popular betting-specific search terms in Maryland so far. Searches for “parlay” in the state are twice as popular as the next closest term, “moneyline.”
This shouldn’t be surprising, as sportsbooks have spent a lot of resources promoting the parlay and same-game parlay. Those types of wagers are popular with novice sports bettors, who are often attracted to the potential big odds payoffs of a multi-leg parlay bet.
- Parlay … 14
- Moneyline … 7
- Live Betting … 4
- Prop Bet … 4
- Futures Bet … less than 1*
Most popular searches for sportsbooks in Maryland
In April, Maryland topped the $2 billion mark in all-time total handle, which includes retail sportsbook figures. Predictably, FanDuel is near the top in search traffic among Marylanders online. FanDuel MD has consistently captured 40% or more of the market in the state.
- Caesars … 31
- FanDuel … 25
- DraftKings … 16
- BetMGM … 5
- BetRivers … 2
The three cities or metro areas that searched most for sports betting brands in Maryland were Baltimore, Washington D.C., and Salisbury.
Caesars traffic may have been helped by its casinos and casino app popularity.
Most popular Maryland teams in sports betting searches
It’s no secret that the National Football League is the most popular sport for bettors in the US, and data from Google supports this. The Ravens and Commanders both earned far more interest than all but one other pro team in Maryland, and the Ravens were No. 1 by Interest Over Time from Google search traffic.
The trends from this list are highly dependent on season: the Orioles have been far and away most popular since March, as would be expected.
- Ravens … 19
- Orioles … 17
- Commanders … 11
- Capitals … 6
- Wizards … 5
Fanatics draws interest from Maryland sports fans
Google reveals that Fanatics and its anticipated debut in Maryland has shot that brand toward the top of searches from searchers in the state over the last 90 days (since late February).
Fanatics records an Interest score of 13, which is nearly as high as DraftKings over the last 90 days. Fanatics launched its first retail sportsbook in Maryland in January, and an online product is soon to join the market in this state. Market leader FanDuel had a score of 21 for the period of Feb. 28 to May 29.
An Interest Over Time score above 15 is indicative of a highly popular search term. Any scores of 40+ are unusual, and typically reserved for short-lived trendy topics and large news stories.
