Maryland set a new sports betting trading record for the second consecutive year in December, with players spending a total of $559.9m (£439.6m/€510.6m).

December’s total, including promotional bets, is 1.7% higher than the previous Maryland record of $550.7 million in November. It is also 17.1% higher than the $478.3 million bet in December 2022, the first full month of legal online betting.

Of this, around $541.7 million was bet online, accounting for 96.7% of all bets. This included $19.7 million in free promotional bets. The remaining $6.2 million was spent by players betting at retail sportsbooks across Maryland, including $32,146 on free bets.

In terms of revenue, total taxable income in the state was $62.3 million in December. This was up 49.8% from $41.6 million in November, but down 26.7% from $85.2 million in December 2022.

Mobile betting generated $60.1 million, with retail contribution of $2.3 million.

After accounting for $19.8 million in advertising, monthly revenue was $43.2 million. December’s figure was more than double November’s entry of $21.3 million and up 1,389.7% from $2.9 million a year ago. The latter was due to operators giving out a large number of free bets in the first month of online betting.

The sports betting tax for the month was $6.5 million. Of that, $6.2 million came from online activity and $316,369 from retail.

DraftKings are ahead in Maryland

Looking at the individual operators, DraftKings was the clear leader in the online market. The operator made taxable profits of $10.0 million from a total of $167.1 million in bets.

BetMGM took second place in Maryland with $2.3 million in earnings and $35.9 million in winnings. Caesars followed in third place with $887,749 off $24.0 million.

As for retail betting: Live! Casino Hotel and FanDuel took the top spot. The partnership had a taxable profit of $592,219 on a balance of $3.8 million in December.

MGM National Harbor and BetMGM tied for second place with $482,059 on $5.2 million in bets. Not far behind were Oceans Downs Casino and TwinSpires in third place with $466,632 from a $2.5 million bet.

For the current fiscal year, total spending in the six months to the end of December was $2.55 billion. Taxable profit was $164.0 million and tax payments totaled $24.6 million.