The Hollywood Casino in Perryville became the fifth casino in Maryland to start offering sports betting. The grand opening was held this past Thursday along with officials from the Maryland Lottery.
There will be a total of seventeen locations throughout the state that will legally offer sports betting once they are all operational. On December 9, The MGM National Harbor Casino in Oxon Hill, MD, was the first to begin sportsbook operations.
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan recently stated, “No one is pushing harder than I am to get sports betting up and running here in the State of Maryland. Our administration has now cleared five licenses for sports betting, implementing the referendum approved by voters and the law passed by the General Assembly.”
The governor himself placed the first legal sports bet in state history on December 9, launching sports betting at the MGM National Harbor. Twelve remaining locations are yet to start offering sports betting, which should be happening in the next few months.
More Retail Betting Locations Recently Approved
The Greenmount Station OTB just received approval from the state to become the eighth retail sportsbook to open. The Maryland Sports Wagering Application Review Commission supported the application this past Monday, and the site should start offering sports betting in early 2022.
The Greenmount Station is a bar and restaurant and is the third non-casino approved for a retail betting license. The two others recently granted licenses were Long Shot’s in Frederick, MD, and the Riverboat on the Potomac. They are also both expected to start taking wagers early next year.
A week ago, sports betting came to Ocean City as the Ocean Downs Casino launched sports betting. The casino has 20 kiosks for sports betting throughout the facility.
Ocean Downs General Manager Bobbi Sample stated, “This has been a long time coming. “It was a lot of legislative sessions, several of them, to get here. It was a long process, from application to control demonstrations.”
Maryland Looking Forward to the Extra Revenue
State officials estimate that sports betting will produce up to $20 million in tax revenue per year. Some experts say the sportsbooks could take in as much as $3 billion per year in revenue by the third year of legal sports betting being operational. That could mean as much as $35 million in tax revenue for the state.
Sports betting facilities will be taxed at 15 percent of the operators’ net income. One hundred percent of the revenue from sports betting within the state will go to the Education Trust Fund. Last year, $285 million from the fund was put into the states’ $7 billion education budget.
Some education advocates say the money could be used for other things such as expanding access to high-quality pre-K education and mental health services offered at schools throughout the state. No matter where the money lands in the state’s education system, rest assured that there will be a lot more to come.
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