Maryland Online Sports Betting Posts Big Opening Weekend Numbers
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Early Results Showing Promise
Following Maryland’s Nov. 23 online sports betting launch, the state saw 16.5 million geolocation transactions through the end of the Thanksgiving weekend (Nov. 27), according to GeoComply.
“A strong start for the regulated market delivers on the promise of new revenues and consumer protections,” said Senior Vice President of GeoComply Lindsay Slader. “Marylanders will continue to ditch illegal offshore sportsbooks for the security of legal, regulated operators that provide player safeguards and tax dollars for the state, just as lawmakers intended.”
Out of the 16.5 million transactions, 3.7 million were recorded on Thanksgiving Day alone. GeoComply’s data also found 477,365 unique accounts across seven operators from Nov. 23-27. The seven operators that launched in the state are Barstool, BetMGM, BetRivers, Caesars, DraftKings, FanDuel, and PointsBet. Three others – Betfred, Fanatics, and Parx Interactive – were approved to launch but will likely wait until 2023 to do so.
The 16.5 million transactions is almost double what neighboring state Virginia saw in its online sports betting debut, four times what similar-sized Colorado saw, and just a few hundred thousand off of New Jersey’s 17.1 million, which is a far more populous state.
💨 @DeSeanJackson10 still got those wheels. #NextGenStats, powered by @awscloud. pic.twitter.com/dwpx8dloHE
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) November 29, 2022
Thanksgiving Weekend Sets Bar High
The success is in large part owed to the Thanksgiving weekend launch, which, aside from college rivalry, NBA, and NFL games, also included World Cup action.
Most notably, last weekend included a Group B square off between USA and England in a battle for qualification to the Round of 16. While the game ended in a draw, viewership certainly didn’t. That game drew 15.4 million viewers on Fox, making it one of the most-watched men’s soccer games on U.S television and the most-watched game of the 2022 World Cup so far in the U.S.
Not to be forgotten is that both the Baltimore Ravens and Washington Commanders played over the weekend, giving Maryland resident their first chance to bet on their home teams right from their phones.
Suffice to say, Maryland launched at the perfect time.
Montez Sweat tallied his team-leading seventh sack of the season and the 28th of his career. He passed Darryl Grant for No. 11 on the franchise's all-time sack list (since sacks became official in 1982). @BDO_USA | #HTTC
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) November 28, 2022
Paying It Forward
When Maryland lawmakers passed HB 940 in 2021, they did so with the intent of providing ample funding to the Maryland public school system through the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Fund. This fund is a multi-billion dollar investment that will be implemented over the next 10 years and contribute to the development of five main areas: early childhood education, high quality and diverse teachers, college and career readiness, more resources, and governance and accountability.
Sportsbooks in the state are taxed at 15% and all of the revenue earned from it goes to the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Fund.
“It was a great first weekend for Maryland sports betting – delivering on the promise of new education funds and consumer protections,” GeoComply tweeted.
