Maryland Sports Wagering Application Commission on Wednesday approved an additional three sports wagering licenses.
The approvals include two new licenses for an online gaming industry that is already handling the bulk of wagers in the state in less than two weeks of operation.
The commission Wednesday approved Bally’s Corporation and WynnBet, a subsidiary of Wynn Interactive. They both applied for a mobile sports wagering license as well as an operator license.
Bally’s Corporation is an international casino and resort company that boasts 16 casinos, a racetrack, 5,300 hotel rooms and 10,500 employees. In addition to casinos, the company also owns a number of interactive betting applications including Bally Bet, Jackpotjoy and Monkey Knife Fight.
WynnBet is a subsidiary of Wynn Interactive whose majority owner is Wynn Resorts. The company operates the sports wagering app WynnBet in 11 states.
Both are new entrants to Maryland’s gambling market, which includes six casinos and now sports wagering.
There are nine remaining applicants for mobile and five retail licenses.
Thomas Brandt, chairman of the Sports Wagering Application Review Commission, said the consultants, the commission and gaming regulators continue to review those applications.
Seven mobile sports betting apps began taking wagers over the Thanksgiving weekend and early reports from one company that monitors betting traffic within state borders suggested brisk business.
“As witnessed by the Maryland Lottery and Gaming’s release of the latest sports wagering revenue numbers, mobile sports wagering has accounted for the bulk of the sports wagers placed in November,” Brandt said. “We’re eager to see what the December numbers will look like.”
State gaming regulators reported that sports books handled more than $219 million in November. Of that, the state received nearly $705,000 for the education trust fund.
Online sports betting through seven apps was only available for nine days of November. Those nine days had an outsized effect on the monthly totals.
During those nine days, online wagers accounted for $186 million in bets — about 85% of the total for the entire month.
In nine days of operations during November, mobile sports wagering handle was $186,084,496. That amount included $63,835,319 in free promotional play, which is provided to customers by sportsbooks and is deducted from the taxable win. As a result, mobile wagering accounted for $4,262 in contributions to the state in its first nine days.
Consultants for the state said Wednesday that they project the core 12 online license holders will generate about $123 million in gross revenue in the first year of operation. That figure is expected to grow to more than $542 million in the fifth year.
Over that period, the state is expected to collect a total of about $341 million in taxes.
By comparison, retail sportsbooks are expected to do about $113.5 million in their fifth year of operation.
In all, fewer than two dozen applications for the 60 mobile sports wagering licenses are available.
“Obviously they’re much smaller than what the mobile is,” said Kimberly Copp, who is co-chair of the gaming practice group at the Chicago-based Taft law firm. “That would be expected. That’s following what we see in most states.”
Other applicants have not been named publicly. Those applicants typically only become known in the days before lottery commissioners meet to give preliminary approval.
The commission also approved Long Shots Hagerstown LLC, an off-track-betting parlor, for a retail sports betting license.
The Hagerstown-based retail location is owned by Alyse Cohen, who also owns and operates Long Shots, an off-track-betting and sports book in Frederick County. That facility was licensed in November and holds a not-yet-operational mobile sports betting license.
