Maryland Sports Betting Handle Sees Sharp Increase
Parlays Provide Two-Thirds of State Revenue
March turned out to be a decent month for sportsbooks in the state of Maryland. The handle rebounded nicely from the expected drop-off in February. The Maryland sports betting handle for March was $536.7 million, a significant increase over February’s $442.5 million.
It was also up 39.1% from the $385.9 million wagered in March 2023. Revenue for the state’s sportsbooks totaled $45.1 million for the month. The majority of the profits came from customer’s picks and parlays, as parlays/combination bets accounted for $30.5 million worth of profit.
The Maryland sports betting handle saw parlays/combination bets responsible for the highest handle category, bringing in $181.1 million in wagers. The NBA was second at $160 million, although many of the parlays could have involved just NBA games. College basketball was next at $83.6 million.
February’s college basketball handle was $53 million, so the NCAA Tournament created more wagers. Tennis remains popular among betters, as its $29 million handle was more than MLB and the NHL combined. April should see Major League Baseball do much better with a full month of games to wager on.
A few people have started placing their best NCAA bets in college football. There was $7,100 wagered in NCAA football, but payouts of $131,498, as people cashed holdover tickets from the season. Golf also showed a slight losing month on paper.
The hold for the state was 8.4% in March, which is a bit lower than the 10.4% hold for the current fiscal year. Parlays and motor sports showed the highest hold percentages for March and also for the fiscal year.
Online Wagering Still Reigns Supreme
The Maryland sports betting handle numbers show that those who bet online are responsible for more than 97% of the wagers seen in March. The hold on retail wagers was 7.6%, which is slightly lower than the overall hold.
Those betting at retail establishments tend to do slightly better than those who bet online. It’s one thing to enter a dollar figure into your favorite sports betting app. It’s something different when you’re forking over cash to the teller in the window. It makes you think twice if you believe Los Angeles is really worth betting on.
As usual, FanDuel attracted the most wagers, receiving $247.8 million in online bets for the month. The sportsbook had $19.6 in taxable revenue after deducting $6.3 million in promotional bets handed out. For the fiscal year, which typically runs July through June, Fan Duel has $157.1 million in taxable revenue.
DraftKings was the second most popular sportsbook in the state during March. It took $155.1 million in wagers and showed taxable revenue of $7.6 million for the month. For the fiscal year, DraftKings has accepted $1.27 billion in wagers and has shown taxable income of $79.6 million.
The hold of 10% for DraftKings is a ways behind the 12.5% hold FanDuel has shown for the current fiscal year.
BetMGM received $42.8 million in wagers and had $2.7 million in taxable revenue for the month. For the year, BetMGM has reported taxable revenue if $17.1 million, but also has given out more than $12 million in promotional wagers.
ESPNBet was No. 4 in the state in terms of handle for March, with Caesars checking in at No. 5.
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