Following a meeting of Maryland’s Sports Wagering Application Review Commission (SWARC), online sports betting could be live in the state as soon as Thanksgiving.
According to BetMaryland, Thanksgiving is the earliest when wagers could be taken by operators in the Old Line State, but a more realistic launch time is early-to-mid December.
This week’s SWARC meeting gave the Maryland public more clear timeline on when exactly sports betting will be live in the state.
On October 27, the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Commission will meet to hear the qualifications of 21 applications for sports wagering operator licenses, which include 10 sports wagering operator applicants, 10 pairing sports app license applications, and one Class B retail applicant.
On November 21, SWARC will meet to go over the recommendations by the Lottery and Gaming Commission. They were originally scheduled to meet on November 16 but this date was postponed.
Once approved by the SWARC, the license awardees will then go back to the Lottery and Gaming Commission for final approval, which may take up to two days per awardee.
After the licenses have received final approval, the first wagers can then be taken by operators, which could be as soon as Thanksgiving.
BetMaryland adds that major sportsbooks like FanDuel would likely be best suited to meet the Thanksgiving launch date ambition if approved by the respective Maryland commissions.
