A key priority was to be sure that minority- and woman-owned businesses would be able to have meaningful participation in this expansion of the gambling industry.īy December 2021, the first in-person sports gambling operations got up and running. So state lawmakers spent much of their 2021 legislative session ironing out those details. Maryland state lawmakers decided to send the issue of sports gambling to voters in 2020, and Marylanders overwhelmingly approved, 67% to 33%.īut the state ballot question was a broad one, and did not lay out any of the specifics regarding licenses, locations, taxation or regulation. The impetus for Maryland to consider allowing sports gambling was a Supreme Court decision in 2018 that struck down a federal law that had effectively outlawed betting on sports in most states. It’s been a lengthy process to get to this point. There’s no betting on youth or high school sports. The Baltimore Banner thanks its sponsors. The app operators have been saturating social media, TV and radio airwaves with free play offers, with some requiring a wager as small as $5 to receive $200 in free bets.įor the first 12 months of operation, sports betting apps are allowed to give unlimited free play promotions, according to Seth Elkin, a spokesperson for the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency. All of the apps are allowed to offer free bets to entice gamblers to sign up.

What’s the deal with the free money offers? Security features prevent gamblers from using a virtual private network to try to trick the app into thinking they’re in Maryland. So you’re out of luck if you’re traveling to a no-sports-betting state for Thanksgiving and want to use your Maryland-based apps. Geofencing prohibits using the apps across state lines, and one of the final checks before the apps could go live was to make sure the geofencing works. The apps licensed in Maryland can only be used within the physical boundaries of the state.

Sports betting in maryland online