The regulated online sports betting market launched in the state on November 23, with GeoComply noting that 3.7 million geolocation transactions took place on Thanksgiving Day.

Based on the group’s data from November 23-27, seven operators were in action, with 477,365 unique accounts registered.

GeoComply noted that Maryland’s education fund will receive a huge boost from the record-setting numbers, with policymakers in 2021 citing mobile sports betting as a key component of revenue for the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Fund.

Recently, Governor Larry Hogan publicly called for an expedited launch of mobile betting to bring tax dollars into the state’s education fund and protect consumers.

From the launch date, GeoComply explained that betting surged thanks to local NFL teams in action, along with college football and basketball matches, a full round of NBA and the FIFA 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

“A strong start for the regulated market delivers on the promise of new revenues and consumer protections,” said GeoComply SVP Compliance Lindsay Slader. 

“Marylanders will continue to ditch illegal offshore sportsbooks for the security of legal, regulated operators that provide player safeguards and tax dollars for the state, just as lawmakers intended.”

Geolocation traffic for the state’s Thanksgiving launch almost doubled neighbouring Virginia, and was over four times that of similarly-sized Colorado. The 16.5 million figure also surpassed Indiana and Tennessee, and was just short of the 17.1 million recorded in New Jersey.