Maryland Casino Numbers Held Strong in 2025, Sportsbooks Waver
Each U.S. state that authorizes both brick-and-mortar casinos and sports betting experiences often show great stability in monthly casino revenues - and great volatility in sports betting revenue.
Perhaps no state better exemplifies that fact better than Maryland, as reflected by the state's Lottery and Gaming Commission year-end figures recently released for 2025.
For instance, the state's $1.95 billion in casino revenue was achieved with a low of $151.5 million in revenue in September and a modestly-higher high of $176.4 million in May.
The standard bearer for the Maryland casino industry in all 12 months was MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill in the greater Washington, D.C. area, which totaled $823.3 million in revenue. The only real rival, Live! Casino & Hotel in Hanover south of Maryland, took in $711.6 million.
And while those numbers look fairly close, Live! Casino's closest battle - which came in March - still resulted in figures of $70.4 million for MGM to $63.8 million for Live!. MGM's advantage came in spite of Live! having 3,878 slot machines compared to MGM's 2,268 slots.
The revenue for the other four Maryland casinos combined came nowhere close to the big numbers of the market leaders, with Horseshoe Casino in Baltimore placing a distant third at $178.3 million.
The other Maryland properties are the Hollywood Casino in the western part of the state in Perryville, Ocean Downs Casino in Berlin in southeastern Maryland, and Rocky Gap Casino in Allegheny County in northwestern Maryland near the West Virginia border.
Sports betting revenue also up in 2025 - but very unevenly
Looking at 2025 monthly sports betting numbers vividly shows that aforementioned volatility.
For instance, the state industry's all-time record of $95.7 million in November 2025 was more than double the $44.6 million the sportsbooks reaped in July 2025 – a stark contrast to those steady monthly casino figures.
In fact, only one out of seven months from February through August even topped $60 million.
But as is typical, fall professional and college football season's peak of September through January saved the day. The September figure of $70.9 million was topped by October's $71.1 million. And after that record-breaking November, another $79.4 million was taken in December, followed by January's 2026's $76.7 million in wagers held by the sportsbooks.
The uneven nature of the monthly figures isn't solely due to the seasonality of the major sports, either - the "hold percentage" for the sportsbooks also varies significantly.
In 2025, the "house" held just 8.1% of the betting handle – the weakest showing of 2025. So while the healthy $588.5 million in wagering volume for "March Madness" was bettered only by the months of football season, there were five months of lower amounts of betting totals yet also higher amounts of sportsbook revenue due to double-digit hold figures.
Similarly, November 2025 easily proved to be the best payday for the sportsbooks thanks to an ideal - for them, not for bettors - 13.5% hold percentage.
Higher tax revenues are coming in Maryland
Mobile sports betting operators were hit with a tax hike beginning in June 2025 - although the boost from 15% to 20% of gross revenues is less painful than the higher rates either passed or proposed in numerous other states.
All of the state tax revenue from its sportsbook industry had gone toward funding education programs, but now the extra 5% goes into the General Fund to help keep the state's finances in order. (The sportsbooks at the state's casinos were exempted from the tax hike.)
In the last six months of 2025, the state took in a total of $78.5 million in sportsbook tax revenue - with all but a tiny fraction of that coming from the mobile sportsbook operators.
With another $10.9 million collected in January 2026 and factoring in the usual fluctuations in betting volume in the last five months of the Fiscal Year, Maryland figures to clear up to $125 million in sportsbooks taxes as that “Year” ends on June 30.
Read More
