$2.3 Million for Maryland Live! Poker in First Month

The appetite for American poker rooms, far from diminishing, seems to be on the up, despite continuing economic woes for many citizens. So, the new land-based poker room, Maryland Live! Casino, has shown that more than any other with a great first month of operation raking in a cool $2.3 million.

Indeed, the poker room – one of the largest in the US at 15,000 square feet, and containing 52 tables – raked in $350,000 in its first 4 days of operation after going live on August 28th.

This gambling news comes hot on the heels of the Maryland government’s decision to expand the state’s land based gambling operations. Maryland casinos can now stay open 24 hours a day, while new licenses will be awarded, expanding the number of casinos and live table games in the state.

Under American gambling laws, each individual state has to regulate its own online market, as well as their land based offerings, and as of yet there are no online casinos in Maryland. However, that hasn’t stopped casinos such as Maryland Live! from heading online with freeplay social casinos, although it was originally just thought of as a training tool for staff.

However, the success of the free casino quickly forced a change of tact, with Marketing Senior Vice President Mario Maesano saying: “The numbers just blew us away.”

“Fully twelve percent of our online free-play database after opening their online account with us had then come into the casino to play for real money. Not only that, but these players were coming 40 percent more frequently, worth 20 percent more per visit to us and stayed ten percent longer than the average patron during a visit.”

“This was an ‘a-ha’ moment for all of us. We hadn’t expected that and it made us sit up and start paying a lot more attention to these players.”