MD sports betting revenue hit highest monthly total in September

Sports betting generated $9.4 million in September for state education spending, the highest monthly total since the legal market launched nearly three years ago.

Maryland lottery and gaming officials attributed the revenue spike — which represented a 68% increase over the total from August — to the start of the 2024 National Football League season.

The previous high mark for monthly revenue was $8.2 million in January, driven by betting interest in last football season’s playoff games.

“We’re encouraged that the sports wagering market continues to generate additional funding to support schools, and at the same time we also encourage everyone to be responsible about their betting,” John Martin, director of the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency, said in a statement.

Sports betting revenue is set aside for the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, a lofty, expensive plan to boost education systems and student performance statewide by starting childhood education at an earlier age, increasing pay for teachers and bolstering career and technical education opportunities.

Mobile sports betting launched one year after the start of legal gambling at in-person, retail sportsbooks.

Last fiscal year, the new market generated more than $60 million in state tax revenue.

In the first quarter of the current fiscal year, sports betting has brought in $21.2 million, far exceeding the $9.1 million total from the first quarter for last fiscal year.

More than nine in every 10 bets that Marylanders place on sports is through a mobile app or platform, and the soaring popularity and startling accessibility of betting on smartphones has concerned those who study and work to prevent problem gambling.

Problem gambling is a mental health diagnosis that the National Council on Problem Gambling has defined as behavior that damages an afflicted person and their family and often disrupts their daily life and career.

In his recent statement, Martin mentioned that betting apps have tools with which users can set limits on their activities.

“If you bet, please enjoy it in moderation and leave room to simply have fun watching the games and being a sports fan,” he said.

Maryland lawmakers have allocated a tiny fraction of casino and sports betting revenue to programs that treat and prevent problem gambling.

The prominence and accessibility of mobile betting with the advent of sports wagering in Maryland has particularly generated concern about problem gambling among the state’s advocates and researchers.

Even before mobile sports betting, Maryland was falling short of expectations and national standards in helping people suffering from a gambling problem, according to a recent legislative report.

Advocates for problem gambling resources, including researchers, academics, lawmakers and more, have said the state must dedicate a percentage of the revenue to helping those suffering from a gambling disorder.

But proposals to divert even 1% of sports betting revenue to help fight problem gambling have met a lack of consensus in the legislature, at least in part because of the lack of appetite to divert any money from the Blueprint education plan.

The roughly $40-billion, 10-year plan lacks a permanent funding stream and will be a major driver of multibillion-dollar operating budget deficits in the later years.