The Maryland Lottery has reported the third-best performance in its 53 year history in the 2025/26 fiscal year, with sports betting and casino revenue making a particularly strong contribution.
Traditional lottery sales reached $2.7bn (£2bn), with scratch off sales surpassing $1bn for the fifth consecutive year. This drove profit of $681.6m from lottery ticket sales alone, with $532.5m directed to the state general fund.
Like many state lotteries in the US, the Maryland Lottery has a key function as a fundraising body for public schools, which were some of the beneficiaries of the $523.5m moved to the general fund from 2025/26 lottery sales.
A further $149m in lottery profits was directed to initiatives like public transit, the state Veterans Trust Fund, and improvements to the Camden Yards Sports Complex in central Baltimore.
Lottery prizes in 2026 amounts to $1.7bn, an average of $4.6m per day. There were 1,659 prizes amounting to $10,000 or more, including 52 tickets with a $50,000 winning prize and 28 with at least $1m.
A striking figure this year, however, was the amount generated by betting and casino operations. The Maryland Lottery is a casino operator, managing six different venues across the state which offer table games and slots.
Revenue across the six casinos amounted to $1.9bn. The lottery has lauded this as the fifth best single year in its 16-year history, with $822.2m of this revenue directed to state funds, of which $599.1m went to the Education Trust Fund (ETF).
Since the opening of the first Maryland Lottery casino in September 2020, more than $7bn in casino gaming revenue has gone to the ETF.
Last but not least, there’s sports betting. Maryland is a legal betting state, meaning the lottery has to go up against some major private competitors in this field like FanDuel, DraftKings, Fanatics and BetMGM.
Despite this competition, Maryland Lottery betting revenue grew from $88.9m in 2024/25 to $132.3m in 2025/26. Of this, $99.7m went to the Blueprint Fund and $32.6m to the General Fund.
The state has found that betting revenue has risen consistently over the past few years.
“We’re proud to operate and oversee gaming that raises critically needed state revenue,” said Maryland Lottery and Gaming Director, John Martin.
“We take a moment each summer after the fiscal year ends to look at the numbers, but we’ve also quickly turned our attention to the future as we aim for a strong FY2027 and beyond.”