New Push for Maryland Online Casinos • This Week in Gambling

There are at least two State Senators pushing legislation to regulate Maryland online casino regulation already this year. Ron Watson and Nancy King have already introduced a bill which would permit internet casino games to be offered by the state lottery.

Online sports betting in Maryland had just becoming a “thing” back in November of last year, and now this. We’re hoping the attempt is successful, but we must also admit that it’s a long shot. First tries at this sort of thing almost never go well… but still, the chances are not zero.

In a statement to the PlayUSA website, Senator Watson stated that as residents see the revenue generated from sports betting, attitudes may change. “If we had to endure another pandemic and sports shut down, we would have zero money generated from our existing casinos…” he said. “But if we can put in place online gaming, we’ll have another revenue stream…”

Watson added that the state Attorney General believes that Maryland online casinos would be an expansion of gaming. The constitution requires such an expansion to be approval by voters. Therefore, regardless of what happens in legislative chambers, online gambling won’t happen without an election. And that won’t happen until 2024.

The Maryland online casino bill does not mention online poker, but Senator Watson believes his legislation covers the activity under the term “casino-style games.” He revealed that he played on both PartyPoker and PokerStars before Black Friday hit, and that he has friends who still play on the PokerStars play-for-free app.