Maryland Has Its Best Sports Betting Month Ever in December

Maryland is the latest state to report an end-of-year surge in legal sports betting activity, as some of our best sports betting apps had a fantastic December.

According to Maryland Lottery and Gaming, the state’s 12 Maryland sports betting apps and 13 retail locations set a new record for overall monthly sports betting activity in December. It helped Maryland end the year with an impressive $2.5 billion in total sports wagers and tax contributions of over $46 million.

The Maryland sports betting industry has consistently grown since launching retail and mobile sports betting in November 2022, and 2023's numbers helped cement the state as a top-10 U.S. legal sports betting jurisdiction.

$559.8 million December handle

Maryland sports betting sites and retail providers combined for a $559.866 million December legal sports betting handle as residents of the Old Line State surely took advantage of Maryland sportsbook promos; $497 million in prizes was paid out by Maryland sportsbooks in December. 

It bested the previous handle record of $550.7 million from November and is almost a $63 million year-over-year improvement from December 2022.

To nobody's surprise, Maryland sports betting apps were responsible for $541,650,934, or 96.7%, of the state's overall sports betting handle last month. Retail accounted for $18,214,529.

Taxable revenues climb month-over-month

Sports betting revenues for Maryland sportsbooks were good. Still, they came in as just the seventh-best monthly profit totals for the Old Line State's providers, as $43,216,018 in taxable profits was reported by Maryland Gaming and Lottery.

While up about $1.6 million month-over-month from November's $41.6 million in taxable revenues, December's totals are far off the record $85.1 million reported in December of 2022.

Operators in Maryland held 11.1% with $19.7 million in promo plays in December. The Maryland sportsbook hold rate is up from 7.6% in November but is down year-over-year from the whopping 17.1% hold from the record revenue month of December 2022.

Thanks to a 15% tax rate for Maryland legal sports betting operators, nearly $6.5 million in tax contributions were paid to the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Fund, which funds public education programs in the Old Line State.

The nearly $6.5 million record tax contribution haul bests the previous tax contribution record of $5.8 million, set in October.

Optimism

Maryland sportsbooks have enjoyed year-over-year growth every month of 2023, breeding a serious sense of optimism for the platform and those entities that benefit from it.

"The numbers we're seeing over the last six to 12 months reflect the maturation of the market," Maryland Lottery and Gaming Director John Martin said in a statement. "Initial projections were that sports wagering would generate $25 million to $30 million annually for the state as the market was ramping up. We've now had more than a year of mobile wagering, and we expect the annual contribution to settle in at more than $40 million."