The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency has revealed total sports betting handle for July to be $247.4 million. This includes Maryland’s 11 mobile operators and 10 retail locations.
Retail locations took $9.9 million handle, or 3.6% of total wagers. The remaining 96.4%, $237.5 million was wagered through mobile skins.
Overall hold for the month was 11.4%, with revenue for the month totalling $28.1 million. This is a higher hold month-over-month, up from 10.6% in June. It falls below Maryland’s total margin since MY sports betting legalization which sits at 13.1% overall.
July marks another significant month for tax revenue in Maryland. Total tax contributions from retail and mobile sports betting exceeded $3.3 million, bringing total contributions since December 2021 to over $30 million. Each sportsbook gives 15% of its total taxable win to the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Fund, mainly funding public education programs.
The handle and revenue numbers for July now include Crab Sports, a local bookmaker from Maryland, as it has officially launched in the state. Mobile sports betting in Maryland started in late 2022 and has been growing into 2023. There is still room for more market entrants, as Maryland keeps showing strong handle figures.
2022 and early 2023 policy discussion has been around the expansion of sports betting legislation and ensuring it’s competitive. Although there have been murmurs of a Maryland online casino legislative push, legalization looks far from imminent despite the six commercial casinos continuing to perform well throughout 2022 to post record revenues.