House members in Maryland unanimously passed a bill that aims to change how bettors can wager on college sports just before the start of another year of March Madness.
On Wednesday, the Maryland House approved House Bill 518 by a 132-0 vote, advancing legislation that provides new consumer protection standards for online sports wagering, while reinforcing the state’s ban on college player prop markets.
HB 518 was first introduced in last year’s legislative session and carried over into 2026. It was referred to the House Ways and Means Committee, where it received unanimous approval before receiving a second reading that concluded with amendments.
An amendment included the removal of a proposed ban on people “under a certain age from participating in fantasy competitions”. The provision would have raised the state’s age requirement for daily fantasy sports from 18 to 21. Before the amendments, the measure would have also exempted people with existing DFS accounts who are aged 18 through 20.
College prop ban would add to regulatory restrictions
Lawmakers in Maryland are considering a legislative college player prop ban after NCAA President Charlie Baker voiced concerns about the betting markets impacting the welfare of student-athletes. Baker first called for a college props ban in 2023, and several state gaming regulators responded by prohibiting sportsbooks from offering the betting markets.
The markets included Maryland, with the Maryland Lottery and Gaming directing its licensed sportsbooks in 2024 to pull college player prop markets from their platforms.
HB 518, co-sponsored by Dels. Julie Palakovich Carr and Nick Allen, aims to make the college prop ban law, adding to Maryland’s existing regulatory prohibition. State gaming regulators have also imposed college player pro bans in jurisdictions such as Ohio, Vermont and Louisiana, although Missouri’s regulator denied a request from Baker to prohibit them just a few months into that state’s legal sports betting market.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in New Jersey have also made an attempt to advance a legislative ban on college player props. The state already imposes a ban on bets on in-state schools.
Baker continues to push for a college prop ban amid the NCAA’s gambling woes.
More than 30 former NCAA college basketball players were included in a federal indictment in 2025 that alleged their involvement in a point-shaving scheme. The NCAA also deemed several players permanently ineligible for their sharing of insider information for gambling purposes, wagering on themselves or their teams and manipulating gameplay.
Potential new funding standards in Maryland
HB 518 also aims to impose an explicit ban on credit cards for all online sports betting transactions.
It would require sports betting operators to establish self-imposed deposit limits, while prohibiting the use of credit cards to fund “any online sports-wagering related” transaction. The legislation also intends to require sports bettors to “establish a self-imposed limit on the amount of money deposited within a specified period of time.”
The provision takes a different approach to responsible gaming by requiring bettors to leverage the RG tools offered by operators instead of them being used voluntarily.
Lawmakers want more gambling behavior data
HB 518 also proposes the establishment of a voluntary exclusion list of people who have requested to be excluded from the state lottery, and would require licensed sportsbooks to report all transactional data and metrics on a quarterly basis to several colleges and universities.
The data would allow the institutions to analyze problem gambling behavior and use the findings in a study or peer-reviewed reports. The institutions that would receive the data are Morgan State University, Bowie State and the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
HB 518 will now head to the Senate for consideration, and has been referred to that chamber’s Budget and Taxation Committee. In addition to the Maryland House, the bill has garnered support from the Maryland-DC Society of Addiction Medicine.
