Marylanders gambled record amount on sports in October

Marylanders shelled out more money on sports gambling in October than in any month prior, waging more than $593 million.

With the return of college football and major professional football, baseball, basketball and hockey all in season, October is an especially busy month on the sports calendar.

Success from both the Baltimore Ravens and Washington Commanders has also helped create an “extra enthusiasm in the air,” said State Lottery and Gaming Director John Martin.

“We can’t say exactly how much that translated into the strong handle we saw in October, but the success of the local teams captures everyone’s attention, so it was most likely a factor,” Martin said in a statement.

The total handle — or amount wagered, including promotional bets that companies use to lure participants and encourage spending — was an 11% increase over the total from September and a nearly 23% increase over the amount that Marylanders gambled on sports in October 2023.

The previous single month high was in December 2023, when Marylanders gambled nearly $560 million on sports.

The state generates revenue from a percentage of the money remaining after prizes and promos have been paid out.

The revenue is set aside for the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, an ambitious, 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.

The $7 million in tax revenue generated in October was the third-best single-month total since the market launched in December 2021.

The highest monthly total came in September, when the start of the National Football League season helped drive $9.4 million in state revenue.

Through the first four months of the current fiscal year, sports betting has brought in 90% more revenue compared to the first four months of the 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.

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

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 education plan lacks a permanent funding stream and will be a major driver of multibillion-dollar operating budget deficits in the later years.