The Maryland Lottery and Gaming reported $45.6 million in gross operator revenue for sports wagering in September as the betting public eagerly snapped up 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 mobile operators lavished close to $24 million worth of credits for September, the most since an outlay of $71 million last December in the second month mobile wagering was available in the Old Line State. Four operators -'DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, and Fanatics Sportsbook'- accounted 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 August, up 67.8% to $442.5 million, and it was over 13 times greater than the $31.4 million in wagers (retail only) from September of last year. This year’s action was enough to make Maryland the 10th state to surpass $3 billion handle in 2023, and it became the 14th state to clear $4 billion worth of accepted wagers in the 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.