The American state of Maryland reportedly racked up over $16.5 million in retail sportsbetting handle last month after five of its casinos premiered their own in-house sports wagering services from December 9.
According to a Monday report from The Baltimore Sun newspaper citing official information from the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency regulator, the five-year-old MGM National Harbor was the first property in ‘The Old Line State’ to launch a retail sportsbook and went on to finish the 31-day month with some $6 million in handle.
Fruitful figures:
The newspaper reported that the more modest Live! Casino Hotel Maryland and Horseshoe Baltimore venues joined the retail sportsbetting club from December 10 and subsequently managed to record monthly handle figures of around $7.1 million and $2.6 million respectively. In the east of the state of the Ocean Downs Casino property purportedly began offering a sports wagering service the very next week and consequently processed $554,218 in bets while the Hollywood Casino Perryville enterprise recorded a tally of $319,001 after following suit from December 23.
The Baltimore Sun reported that Maryland passed legislation in April that allowed every one of its six land-based casinos as well as a selection of some eleven other designated venues to apply for permission to operate an in-house sportsbook. The Rocky Gap Casino Resort property from Las Vegas-headquartered Golden Entertainment Incorporated is purportedly the sole member of this former group to have so far not applied for a local sportsbetting license.
Sweeping success:
The launch of retail sportsbetting reportedly moreover saw overall December aggregated gaming revenues for the six Maryland casinos improve to exceed $172.9 million, which was only about 4% below the $180.1 million record set for July, as the state raked in approximately $71 million in associated duties and taxes. The newspaper explained that the largest portion of this latter amount is to now be used to support the Maryland Education Trust Fund although the local horseracing industry as well as a range of state programs and minority-owned businesses are also in line for a share.
John Martin from the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency reportedly told the newspaper that the state’s sportsbetting hold rate for December had topped 19% while the associated final aggregated casino gross gaming revenues tally had been in the region of 45% higher than for same month in 2020.
Reportedly read a statement from Martin…
“The combination of the holiday season and the launch of sports wagering at five of the casinos during December led to great results.”
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