the promotions in Q2 compared to Q1. While slightly lower than the peak seen in September and October, competition remained significant in the quarter, specifically as it related to promotional activity, thus, it was important to retain and incentivize our value c- clients with all four, the major pro sports together being active along with college basketball and college football. However, it should be noted that we expect to gradually bring down the rate of promotional investment further in time as we continue to focus and lead with our superior product. So ending to slide 11. We are excited by the opportunity before us this calendar year, as we target to be operational at least 17 States in the U.S. and also Ontario, Canada, our calendar year-end. Our mid-December launch of online sports betting operations in Virginia with our partner Colonial Downs, mark the eighth operational States for PointsBet, and one of our most successful State launches to date when looking at FTB driven from NBC properties. Virginia represents a large market opportunity with a population of 8.5 million, a comparable size to New Jersey, and with a rich sports history. Tapping over 22,000 leads at launch largely driven by our partnership with NBC and leveraging local legend and 11 time NBA Allstar, Alan Iverson, a PointsBet brand ambassador, our Virginia launch exceeded, uh, our execution goals. In the first week of launch, Virginia FTB acquired by NBC channels were almost five times higher than FTB acquired in the first week post launch in the State of Michigan. This launch demonstrated that we continue to improve our strategic go-to market plans that are leveraging our NBC partnership and execution capabilities. Viewers have been familiar with the PointsBet brands through our exclusive odds integrations and expert, e- expert analysis during key NBC television broadcast, including Sunday Night Football, where PointsBet brand ambassadors and NBC, NFL talent through Breys and Chris Simms, host the PointsBet post segment with an audience of nearly 20 million people each week. Notably, NBC's Washington regional sports and network affiliate is prominent throughout the region, including Maryland, an upcoming launch date for 2022, and serves as the exclusive regional broadcast home of the NBA's, this is Washington Wizards, and the NHL Washington Capitals. They're utilizing NBC's regional sports networks and owned and operated broadcast station unlocks a, a daily presence with local market teams and top sporting events. Grading a f- a familiarity with the PointsBet brand pride on launch. In that December, we were named the official and exclusive sports betting partner of the University of Mary Athletics. This multi-year agreement marks the first ever sports betting partnership within the storied big 10 conference, and follows our deal with the University of Colorado, which has provided the template to work within the, uh, the university space. The University of Maryland athletic spends more than 3 million funds worldwide with nearly 200,000 located in the DMV region, which stands for the Washington D.C, Maryland, and Virginia. Also as announced, on the 25th of January 2022, PointsBet launched operations in New York by representing another major milestone for our company, our brand, and our web technology. As Sam mentioned earlier, New York is expected to be one of the largest markets in the United States. And we are very proud to be one of only nine licensed operators in the Big Apple. We'll again, look to leverage our NBC partnership through SportsNet NY, a part of the NBC Sports Group. SMY is the, the, the regional broadcast home of the major league baseball, New York Mets. In addition to carrying supplemental coverage of the New York Jets, they offer PointsBet with year-round multi-platform media and marketing opportunities across its unmatched bet portfolio of events. PointsBet will have additional leverage opportunities as one of only six, uh, operators that have a New York access and official NFL partnership status. As we plan to Pennsylvania to launch next month, our focus will be on the significant, uh, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh markets. Since going live in New Jersey in 2009, we have been utilizing NBC Sports Philadelphia to reach the, the South Jersey audience. This includes linear imagery and integration across the Flyers, the 76ers, and the Phillies, which taps into their hometown affection to their teams with both, with, uh, by digital, both on their national sites, our geo targeted ads to New Jersey and, uh, utilizing nbcsports.com 's RSN specific website. As made public by the New York State Gaming Commission on the 13th of August 2021, PointsBet as an app- approved their platform provider, will also provide the Resort World, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Genting Group, with a B2B by mobile sports, so by wagering a service in the State of New York. This strategic B2B agreement should be viewed as an, a creative and valuable partnership for the company, but not, but not, uh, indicative of a large B2B strategy of PointsBet. Aside from the unique economic opportunity got presented by the Resort World Bet of New York, PointsBet remains solely focused on our B2C sports book and our gaming operations. Turning to slide 12. Industry analysts keep increasing the estimated size of the U.S. online sports betting, gross gaming revenue TAM opportunity. As we launched new States in 2- about 2022, our coverage of the U.S. population. And with that, our TAM, our TAM opportunity continues to grow, uh, well considerably. We've seen some estimates point to an online sports spending TAM and maturity of U.S. about 42 billion. And on top of that, the U.S. 18 billion for our, for our gaming. We would note that horse racing is not, not commonly included in these, the U.S. TAM estimates. However, from our, our, our experiences in Australia, we do think there is future upside in this category to be realized in the U.S. hence why we bought Bet, Bet PTC, a U.S. advanced deposit horse, horse, uh, wagering business last year. With the recent launch in New York, the United States PointsBet is currently live and represents a total target population of 62 million people with an approximate sports book TAM of 10 1 / 2 billion USD at maturity. Adding in near term launches of Pennsylvania, Ontario, Louisiana, Tennessee, Maryland, and Ohio, represents a further target population of 46 million, an additional 6.8 billion sports book TAM opportunity. Turning to slide 13. The NBC and PointsBet partnership entered its second year at the start of September, 2021. And the partnership continued to dr- continues to drive results and break new ground in the category. It should be noted that at the end of the quarter, only 16.5% of the total NBC lead base was a direct first time bettor opportunity for PointsBet. However, that number will jump to an approximate by 26% from February 2022, once both New York and Pennsylvania are launched and grow even higher over the calendar year. I'm pleased with how the partnership is developing, and excited for the innovation we have planned in H2. The coming period will include a, a more ro- robust, a, a more robust sort of digital plan incorporating NBC's new by regional