Maryland Betting

Online sports betting is regulated by the MLGCA, with licenses awarded via SWARC; bettors must be 21+ and in-state, and mobile is ~98% of handle. Horse racing has a long-standing legal pari-mutuel framework and legal online ADW (18+). On prediction markets Maryland law requires anyone who operates sports wagering to hold a state licence, and Maryland Lottery and Gaming names Kalshi among the operators it has sent cease-and-desist letters, so unlicensed sports-event contracts are classified prohibited.

Maryland has legal retail and online sportsbooks. The first live sportsbook in Maryland opened on December 9, 2021. It was BetMGM at MGM National Harbor. By the end of December 2021, five of the state’s six casinos had retail sportsbooks.

It took nearly a year for Maryland sports betting sites to open. The soft launch occurred on November 21, 2022. The apps and online sports betting sites had the full opening on November 23, 2022, which was just in time for the big Thanksgiving football weekend.

The delay made sports bettors in Maryland unhappy. Governor Larry Hogan joined them by voicing displeasure over all the regulatory delays. “I write to you today to urge the Sports Wagering Application Review Commission to act immediately so that mobile sports wagering can begin in the State of Maryland before the start of the National Football League (NFL) regular season on September 8, 2022,” Governor Hogan said in a letter to the licensing board related to Maryland sports betting sites.

Maryland had the longest delay from legislation to launching online sportsbooks of any other state. It took over two years for the first online bet to be accepted.

Maryland Sports Betting Sites

21+ and present in MD. Please play responsibly. For help visit mdgamblinghelp.org or call 1-800-GAMBLER.

The State Lottery and Gaming Control Agency regulates sports betting in Maryland. Players must be at least 21 years old and located in the state when making a bet. The age requirement applies to all retail and online sportsbooks.

Maryland sports betting sites must partner with retail businesses. These can be casinos, charitable gaming, sports teams, and taverns. The only licensed online sports wagering operators authorized to operate in Maryland, as listed by Maryland Lottery and Gaming, are Bally Bet Sportsbook, bet365, BetMGM, betParx, BetRivers, Caesars Sportsbook, Crab Sports, DraftKings, theScore Bet, Fanatics Sportsbook, FanDuel and LetsBetMD. Here are some of them, with the retail partner listed second.

• BetMGM - MGM National Harbor

• DraftKings - Baltimore Ravens

• FanDuel - Live! Maryland

• BetRivers - Bingo World

• theScore Bet - Hollywood Casino Perryville

• BetParx - Greenmount Station

• Caesars - Horseshoe Baltimore

The State Lottery and Gaming Control Agency regulates live and online sportsbooks in Maryland. The first step is creating licensing procedures for companies and key employees. The State Lottery and Gaming Control Agency evaluates software used by players to make bets and sportsbooks to process them. There are responsible gambling policies and funding included.

There is also a complaints process for players. If a player feels they are not appropriately paid, had a bet graded wrong, or had another type of issue affecting Maryland sports betting, a complaint may be filed here.

Offshore sites that are not licensed have been booking bets from Maryland players since the late 1990s. There is no recourse when a player has a problem with one of those sites. The site’s actions are final because no legitimate regulators are related to unlicensed businesses. Making your sports bets in Maryland at a licensed site is critical.

Maryland Sports Betting Laws

Maryland voters approved Question 2 by a two-to-one margin on November 3, 2020. This was the Sports Betting Expansion Measure. It instructed the state legislature to create a regulatory framework for Maryland sports betting. It included approvals for both retail and online sports betting sites.

Senate Bill 4 addressed the voters’ wishes for legal sports betting in Maryland. Senate Bill 4 in the 2021 legislative session covers this. The State Lottery and Gaming Control Commission regulates the games. Retail licensees pay 15% of gross sports wagering revenue; mobile licensees pay 15% to the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Fund plus 5% to the State’s General Fund.

A Maryland mobile/online sports wagering applicant pays a non-refundable $500,000 application fee plus the cost of its licensing background investigation. Retail application fees range from $50,000 for a Class B-2 facility up to $2 million for a Class A-1.

There may be up to 60 Maryland sports betting sites. However, only a fraction of that number applied for a mobile betting license.

All forms of college sports betting are permitted in Maryland. Unlike other jurisdictions, legal sportsbooks offer in-state teams, games, and prop bets.

It took over a year for the first retail sportsbook to open. Likewise, more than two years passed before Maryland sports betting sites launched. The delays of both were blamed on a bureaucratic licensing process.

Several laws apply to Maryland sportsbooks. The most important ones are that all players must be at least 21 years old and that proper responsible gambling protocols must be followed.