Maryland Targets Late Fall for Legal Sports Betting Launch

Dave Schwab Sports Betting Expert

3 minute read

Maryland voters gave their approval for legal sports betting in last year’s November election. Their wishes could become a reality a little more than a year later.

State lawmakers have already done their part with the proper legislation in place. State Governor Larry Hogan signed the necessary bill into law on May 18.

As with many states going through the legalization process, getting the proper regulations in place has taken longer than expected.

Earlier this month, the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission (MLGCC) opened up the licensing portal. This means that the 17 operators already approved to offer legal sports betting in the state can start the process.

In August, the Sports Wagering Application Review Commission cleared the way to begin the application process which was also tied to licensing.

As everything continues to move forward, MLGCC Director John Martin released the following statement:

“We anticipate that some of the 17 specified locations may be able to start taking sports wagers late this fall or early this winter, in time for the NFL playoffs.”

The MLGCC plans to hold public hearings on the proposed regulations governing sports betting in the next few days. All public comments on the regs will be accepted online until Sept. 27.

State regulations need to be finalized to move forward for certain sectors of the industry. The MLGCC noted that the application process for 30 Class B retail licenses and 60 additional mobile licenses is contingent on final approval. The 17 approved Class A licenses are land-based venues.

The approved licenses have gone to Maryland’s six land-based casinos along with five off-track betting sites. The other Class A licenses went to three professional sports facilities, two racetracks (combined) and two bingo halls.

The two combined racetracks are Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. Pimlico is the home of the Preakness Stakes as the second jewel in the annual Triple Crown racing series.

One of the sports venues is M&T Bank Stadium. This is the home field of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens. The team recently formed a multi-year strategic partnership with Caesars Sportsbook.

As part of that deal, Caesars will be an official sports betting partner of the team. The Nevada-based gaming giant will also be an official casino partner of the Ravens through Horseshoe Baltimore.

If everything continues to progress as planned, live sports betting would be in place by the end of the NFL season. Many of the states going through the regulatory process originally targeted early September for their planned launch. This coincided with the start of the new NFL season.

Arizona was successful in meeting that deadline along with Wyoming. Maryland joins Connecticut and Louisiana as three states still working through the process.

The end of the wait is finally in sight for Maryland sports fans heading into the third week of the 2021 NFL season.

Written by our US sports betting industry expert, Dave Schwab. You can learn more about Dave's expertise here.

Dave Schwab

Dave Schwab has been covering the sports betting industry for the past 12 years as the main focus of his specialty marketing company for online content. This endeavor followed a previous career in the field of sales and marketing in the wholesaling sector.Most of his weekly pieces focus on the rapidly expanding legal US sports betting industry. However, he still does extensive work covering betting angles that can provide a competitive edge to avid players. Dave believes that it is always a challenge to take past results and current form to try and correctly determine a future result. Sports brings out the unpredictability in what should be a fairly predictable outcome based on the stats, facts and recent trends in a particular matchup. More from Dave Schwab