The Maryland Lottery and Gaming reported promotional offers that came with mobile betting being available for the first time in the state at the start of a football season.
The state’s 12 Fanatics Sportsbook — ed for all but $1.4 million of that amount, with DraftKings leading the way with more than $8.8 million.
That contributed to a monstrous surge in handle from post-PASPA era.
When including another $960,000-plus in other deductions, the state was eligible to tax $21.5 million in adjusted gross revenue. It was the first time the AGR was less than half the gross revenue since February, dropping the percentage of taxable operator revenue for the 2023 calendar year to 58.2% of $351.4 million.
Still, the state collected $3.2 million in tax receipts, lifting the overall total for the year above $30 million. The 10.3% hold marked the 19th time in 22 months of wagering it reached double digits, including 10 times in 11 months mobile betting has been available.
Here is a breakdown for the month by mobile sportsbook:
| Mobile Sportsbook | Promotional Play | Gross Revenue | Percentage of Gross Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| DraftKings | $8,828,018 | $15,482,602 | 57.02% |
| FanDuel | $8,365,650 | $19,869,531 | 42.10% |
| BetMGM | $2,972,721 | $4,041,140 | 73.56% |
| Fanatics | $2,411,728 | $1,391,950 | 173.26% |
| Caesars Sports | $509,791 | $1,037,672 | 49.13% |
| PointsBet | $267,635 | $649,218 | 41.22% |
| PENN Entertainment (Barstool) | $241,492 | $679,882 | 35.52% |
| BetRivers | $200,423 | $269,178 | 74.46% |
| Betfred Sports | $119,874 | $60,820 | 197.10% |
| Superbook | $18,854 | $41,217 | 45.71% |
| Crab Sports | $13,812 | $15,935 | 86.68% |
| BetPARX | $3,300 | $72,271 | 4.57% |
Football and parlays move the market 6s5s4z
What made September noteworthy from a mobile operator standpoint is that everyone was aggressively courting bettors. Nine of the 12 books had at least $100,000 in promotional outlay, and every book but betPARX had promotional outlay equal to at least 35% of its gross revenue.
But the usual suspects were at the top of the leaderboard when it came to revenue and handle. FanDuel topped both categories while maintaining its perfect record of double-digit holds in the Old Line State. The mobile juggernaut claimed $19.9 million in gross revenue from $175 million worth of wagers, though its win rate of 11.4% was its lowest in 11 months of action.
DraftKings eked out a double-digit hold as well, landing at 10.1% as it claimed $15.5 million from $154.1 million handle. Its revenue more than doubled from August thanks to a hold 2.4 percentage points higher.
BetMGM crafted its 10th double-digit hold in 11 months, posting a 10.9% win rate in collecting just over $4 million from almost $37 million wagered. Fanatics and Caesars Sportsbook rounded out the mobile books that were able to top $1 million in gross revenue for September.
Fanatics also had its first eight-figure handle at just shy of $12 million and managed $1.4 million gross revenue, though its $2.4 million outlay of promotional credits left it with a negative AGR of just over $1 million. When including wagering conducted by PointsBet, which Fanatics purchased in July, the gross revenue total swells to $2 million from $16.1 million wagered.
Caesars Sportsbook edged into seven figures for revenue by about $40,000, as it had a modest 5.5% hold on $18.8 million handle. Its promotional spend of $510,000 was its most since eclipsing $800,000 in January.
PENN Entertainment, which is in the process of ESPN BET, saw handle nearly double from August to $10.2 million, reaching eight figures for the first time since March. The former Barstool book had a 6.7% hold, resulting in $680,000 in gross revenue.
September was just the fourth month Maryland Lottery and Gaming published revenue and handle by sport, and it showed that the convergence of mobile availability and the start of football is a tide that lifts all sportsbooks. Combined football handle totaled $133.1 million, with NFL betting leading the way at just under $76 million and college football at $57.2 million.
Baseball was still a solid draw as the Baltimore Orioles went on to win their first AL East title since 2014, helping sportsbooks write tickets worth a total of $59.8 million. Plenty of bettors looked to be tailing the Birds, who went 18-10 in September. That likely contributed to operators posting a mere 2% hold to keep just $1.2 million off those bets.
September #SportsBetting numbers for #Maryland via @MDLottery. The parlay report:
Sep: $150.32M/$31.51M/20.96%
33.97% handle/69.14% GGR4-month totals: $384.78M/$78.55M/20.41%
31.85% handle/62.51% GGR20% hold earns you the Twellman
22/X #SportsBettingTwitter #GamblingTwitter pic.twitter.com/CDiXe6iPlR
— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) October 10, 2023
Unsurprisingly, the house made up for single-event wagering shortcomings — the hold was just 4.8% on $292.1 million handle for those bets — through parlay wagering. Maryland bettors showed a healthy appetite for the multi-leg wagers, dropping more than $150 million worth of parlay handle in September. Operators claimed a whopping $31.5 million in revenue from those bets, good for a hold just shy of 21%.
