Any hopes of Maryland legalizing online casino gaming this year seem dead, but lawmakers are intent on outlawing dual-currency gaming in the state.
Sen. Ron Watson withdrew one of his two iGaming bills, Senate Bill 761, on March 13. SB 761 was the legislation that would have put the question of legal iCasino to state voters via a ballot referendum.
Given that Watson’s SB 885, the legislation in which he outlined his proposed framework for an iGaming market, is contingent on a voter referendum, that would appear to kill any thought of Maryland legalizing the vertical this year.
Virginia progress proved to be red herring
SB 885 would allow the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission to award online casino licenses to video lottery operators or sports wagering licensees. It is Watson’s latest attempt to push through online casino legalization after his past efforts in 2023, 2024, and 2025 all failed.
At a Senate Budget and Taxation Committee hearing on March 11, two days before he pulled SB 761, Watson noted what was, at that time, strong progress in neighboring Virginia.
“What has changed from the last time I introduced this bill?” he asked the committee rhetorically. “One word: Virginia. Now that Virginia has come along and their iGaming legislation has passed both chambers. The question is, why not Maryland?”
However, Watson spoke too soon. Despite both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly approving bills to legalize iGaming, lawmakers could not agree in conference and the effort died when that state’s legislative session ended on March 14 without a final bill being sent to the governor’s desk.
Sweeps on the precipice in Maryland
While legal online casinos may not be coming to Maryland anytime soon, lawmakers have approved some changes to the state’s online gambling market.
Two days after the state House of Delegates unanimously passed a bill that would ban player prop bets on college athletes and prohibit the use of credit cards for sports betting, among other things, the chamber also green-lit a bill to explicitly ban online sweepstakes casinos and sportsbooks.
HB 295, which was sponsored by the House Ways and Means Committee on request of the state Lottery and Gov. Wes Moore, would prohibit social casino websites and apps that offer “multiple currency systems of payment” and a chance to exchange the currency for cash or prizes.
HB 295 passed the Maryland House on March 20 by a 105-24 vote and has been referred to the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee with a hearing set for Tuesday afternoon, March 24. The bill’s Senate companion, Senate Bill 112, has not made much progress but is no longer necessary if the Senate approves of the House-passed version.
Lottery says it needs more legislative powers
Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency (MLGCA) Director John Martin told the Budget and Taxation Committee during a hearing for SB 112 earlier this year that the bill is needed in order to empower the regulator to crack down on unlicensed operators and end “ambiguity and loopholes in existing statutes.” Martin said that while his agency has sent around 75 cease-and-desist letters, around two-thirds of recipients did not comply.
There is another bill that would also ban sweeps, HB 1226, which would do so by explicitly naming them and adding them to the state’s definition of illegal gambling products. It would not only make it illegal to operate unauthorized gambling platforms but also to promote, supply services to or affiliate with them. The state Attorney General would be authorized to use measures such as cease-and-desist orders and injunctions to shut down violators.
That bill, the Maryland Illegal Online Gambling Enforcement Act, passed the House on Monday by a 134-2 vote, just in time for the crossover deadline for Maryland legislation, which was end-of-day on Monday.
If either of those bills passes the Senate (which passed a sweeps ban bill last year that later stalled in the House) and gets Moore’s approval, Maryland would join Indiana in officially outlawing sweepstakes gaming in 2026. Numerous states prohibited the vertical last year.
Maryland’s legislative session is due to end on April 13.
