Zona de Azar USA – Maryland Sportsbooks Continue Roll in March with 12.3% Hold

USA.- April 11th 2023 www.zonadeazar.com March was another good month for Maryland-based sportsbooks, with the Maryland Lottery reporting Monday that operators had a double-digit hold and claimed more than $47.5 million in gross sports wagering revenue.

The house had a 12.3% win rate on gross revenue for March, the ninth consecutive month it was 10% or higher. Maryland has had mobile sports wagering for five-plus months since a late November launch, and the hold has been 11.9% or higher each month.

Promotional credits again declined for March, totaling just shy of $11.4 million. That was down 27.9% from February and 84% lower from the peak outlay of $71 million in the first full month of mobile betting in December. Overall, promotional credits totaled $49 million during the first quarter of the year.

Adjusted revenue in March totaled $35.4 million, the highest monthly figure since the Old Line State launched wagering in December 2021 and 89.9% higher versus February’s total of $18.6 million. It also marked the first time since mobile wagering started that adjusted gross revenue was more than 50% of gross revenue. The state earned more than $5.3 million in tax revenue, and the $10.2 million in the first three months of 2023 is nearly $8.9 million ahead of last year’s pace.

Sports wagering handle was just shy of $386 million, up 13.7% from February. All-time handle surpassed $2 billion, while gross revenue cleared $300 million with the all-time hold rate close to 13.9%.

The Big Three give bettors March sadness

Running March Top 10 #SportsBetting handles by state:

1 Maryland ~$386M
2 Iowa $232.6M
3 West Virginia $43.1M
4 Montana $5.8M
5 TBD
6 TBD
7 TBD
8 TBD
9 TBD
10 TBD#GamblingTwitter

— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) April 10, 2023

Maryland’s top three mobile sportsbooks — FanDuel, DraftKings, and BetMGM — each had holds of 11% or higher, and they were among five of the eight operators with double-digit holds. FanDuel paced all operators with a 14.3% win rate on $176.5 million handle, claiming close to $25.3 million in gross revenue. The online titan has posted gross revenue totals of $23 million or more in each of the four full months of mobile betting.

DraftKings also posted a nine-figure handle with $115.5 million and had an 11.1% hold for nearly $12.8 million in gross revenue. Like FanDuel, it has gone 4-for-4 with double-digit holds and finished the first quarter at 11.3%. BetMGM was a strong third in gross revenue with just over $5 million, thanks to a 13.2% win rate on nearly $38 million handle. It has posted holds of 10.3% or higher in each of the last four months.

PointsBet (12.7%) and Betfred (12.5%) were the other mobile operators with double-digit holds, with the Aussie-based book picking up more than $526,000 in gross revenue and Betfred claiming more than $141,000 from just over $1.1 million handle.

Caesars Sportsbook, which was among books with a single-digit hold, was fourth in handle in the state with close to $20.6 million. It garnered $1.7 million in gross revenue with an 8.3% hold.

Barstool Sportsbook was the fifth mobile book with an eight-figure handle at $10.6 million, and it picked up nearly $730,000 in revenue. BetRivers had the softest hold at just over 5.7%, keeping nearly $221,000 from more than $5.7 million in wagers.

One bright spot for bettors on the retail side

Though retail operators posted a healthy 7.5% win rate on close to $15.7 million wagered, finishing with nearly $1.2 million in gross revenue, the betting public handed Live! Casino its first monthly loss. The FanDuel-powered venue paid out $182,357 on top of nearly $4.6 million handle, almost canceling out the $199,388 it claimed in February. It was the largest monthly brick-and-mortar loss in Maryland history, making the $142,666 loss at FedEx Field in February a short-lived record.

That venue at the home of the Commanders narrowly avoided a second consecutive losing month, coming out just $3,617 ahead on nearly $568,000 handle for a 0.6% win rate. MGM National Harbor was tops in both handle and revenue, accepting more than $5.2 million in wagers and claiming just over $792,000 in revenue for a 15.1% hold.

Edited by: @MaiaDigital www.zonadeazar.com