Maryland is among the eight states SuperBook is exiting, but it will keep a presence at one high-profile Maryland location for a few more months.
According to reporting by the Baltimore Sun, the SuperBook Bar and Restaurant at Camden Yards plans to stay open for the remainder of the Baltimore Orioles season.
The only difference will be patrons will be unable to access the SuperBook app at the lounge. But the truth is, few have done so since the sports bar opened a little more than a year ago.
SuperBook unable to catch on in Maryland
SuperBook entered the Maryland sports betting market in April 2023. It was part of a second wave of licensed sportsbook operators in the state. A month later, it held the grand opening of its sports lounge at Camden Yards. It had partnered with the Orioles in 2022.
The bar and restaurant, modeled after SuperBook’s flagship lounge at Westgate Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, was described at the time by a SuperBook official as a “one-of-a-kind sports lounge experience.”
Unlike most sports betting venues at ballparks, however, the Camden Yards lounge didn’t contain a retail sportsbook. Patrons could bet via SuperBook only on their mobile devices. That meant Orioles fans could place bets using other online sportsbooks, as well.
And that’s what most did, evidenced by SuperBook’s dismal market share in Maryland.
It had 0.1% of online handle in June, resulting in just 0.05% of taxable revenue. In neighboring Virginia, it fared even worse. In the first 11 months of 2023, SuperBook had just 0.01% of handle share. Even in New Jersey, the most hospitable to SuperBook of the eight states it is exiting, it only managed 0.3% of revenue share in June.
SuperBook plans to concentrate its efforts in Nevada
SuperBook has not said what will happen to the lounge after the MLB season or whether it plans to continue its partnership with the Orioles.
The Sun article noted that after SuperBook announced it was closing its sportsbook in Maryland, “the company’s signage around the park – such as its ‘good teams win, great teams cover’ advertisement on the outfield scoreboard – remained.”
SuperBook has said it plans to focus on its operations in Nevada, which began in 1986.
The news comes on the heels of another underperforming sports betting operator, BetFred, pulling up stakes in Maryland in June. It had ranked next-to-last in both retail and online betting revenue in the state. BetFred opened its sportsbook in Maryland just ahead of SuperBook.
