Maryland residents made millions of transactions through the state’s newly-launched mobile sports betting industry in its first week of existence.
More than 16.5 million geolocation transactions on the state’s sports betting sites were recorded during the Thanksgiving holiday, according to data from geolocation and fraud specialist GeoComply. Geolocation transactions monitor legal betting in the state by tracking the GPS location of phones making sports bets.
The 16.5 million geolocation transactions put Maryland on par with the mature sports betting industry of neighboring New Jersey. New Jersey – which has a larger population and a decade-old sports betting industry – saw roughly 17.1 million Thanksgiving week transactions.
Roughly 470,000 Maryland residents created unique accounts with the seven different legal online sports books in the state from Wednesday, Nov. 23 through Sunday, Nov. 27. That figure outpaces the rate of sports betting in states with similar populations such as Virginia, Indiana and Colorado across the same time period.
From the moment that betting services launched on Wednesday, Nov. 23, sports betting surged in the state – with local NFL teams in action, World Cup matchups and a full round of NBA and college basketball throughout the holiday weekend.
There were 3.7 million geolocation transfers in Maryland on Thanksgiving Day last week – the second full day of legal mobile wagering in the state.
Maryland’s mobile sports betting industry launched on Wednesday, Nov. 23 after a years-long delay in the mobile implementation. State officials expect the industry to generate millions in revenue.
“Marylanders will continue to ditch illegal offshore sports books for the security of legal, regulated operators that provide player safeguards and tax dollars for the state, just as lawmakers intended,” GeoComply Senior Vice President of Compliance Lindsay Slader said in a Monday press release.
Graphic couresy of geolocation and fraud specialist GeoComply.
