Maryland Online Sports Betting

Maryland gambling law currently provides for a number of regulated gambling markets, including traditional casino gaming. Early Maryland was built on gaming revenue. As in other colonies, Maryland needed to raise money quickly to build infrastructure, and raffles and lottery-style games, were part of Maryland’s early history.

Recently, an increased interest in revenue from commercial gaming has prevailed in Maryland with lotteries, casino games, legalization of slot and video poker machines, Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) and OTB race betting all becoming legal in the last 10 to 15 years.

In May 2020, the Maryland Sports Bill became law and the state went to referendum on November 3 2020 (Presidential Election Day) to check in with the state’s voters if they wish to proceed with legal sports wagering, and they have chosen to go ahead.

Expect something in the style of the best sports betting sites for New Jersey to be launched in Maryland in late 2021 through to spring 2022.

The state of New Jersey won its challenge in May 2018 to the Federal Government ban on sports betting. Overnight, sports betting laws were ruled by the U.S. Supreme Court to be handed back-to-each-state to decide for themselves, and until now, Maryland’s nearest neighbor, Delaware, Mississippi and West Virginia have joined Nevada and New Jersey as states with legalized sports betting.

Maryland’s State Legislators turned over the decision on answers to the twin questions ‘is sports betting legal in Maryland?’ and ‘is online sports betting legal in Maryland?’ to the people in a state-wide referendum to be held on Presidential Election Day of November 3 2020 under enacted state law SB4.

Maryland’s voters brought legal sports betting home with a resounding 66.6% to 33.4% result.

Legal Sports Betting passed the vote in Maryland by a 2-1 margin.

The sports betting referendum was a straightforward yes-or-no question and the vote carried no specifics about what sports wagering would look like. That is now up to Maryland’s legislators to determine the shape and what form sports betting in Maryland will take.

In the meantime, Maryland’s residents and visitors can enjoy the sports betting options of DFS and horse and greyhound racing.

U.S. Federal Law legalizes Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) competitions as they are considered to be a contest of skill, rather than a gambling game of chance. Many state governments have taken the Federal ruling onboard and have ruled DFS to be a part of their state laws.

Maryland is no exception. While the law has undergone several incarnations since state lawmakers first legalized DFS in 2012 under Section 12-114 of the Maryland State Code, the implicit understanding has always been that DFS betting is not considered to be gambling.

All major DFS companies are able to legally accept players from Maryland in their real money DFS competitions.

Given the approaching sun-rising-on-the-horizon of legal sports betting for citizens of Maryland, eSports betting’s legality will transform betting in the Old Line State. Winning exciting eSports wagers in radical new ways through betting markets never experienced before will create a potentially record-setting new tax revenue stream for the State Government of Maryland.

What are eSports?

Since the earliest days of video games, there’s always been a competitive side to the game play and players have always desired to rank themselves with their colleagues.

Now, professional video game play at the top level, (i.e.eSports) has given rise to wagering on the outcomes of the rich and widespread global tournaments.

eSports is now a huge and growing industry, where pros play an official network of professional gaming tournaments playing games like Overwatch, Starcraft II, FIFA 18/19 and Fortnite). With its roots in groups of close friends hosting marathon LAN parties, the eSports industry shows no signs of diminishing in popularity. The global eSports market will cross the $1 billion per annum barrier in 2018/19 and with every tournament, entrance tickets become harder to get.

There is big money to be made of course, and where there is big money, sportsbooks follow. Worldwide sportsbooks now offer betting markets across all the big eSports tournaments.

Expect to see eSports betting in Maryland soon at your favorite legalized Old-Line State sportsbook.

As Maryland has a historic heritage with Horse Racing (the Maryland Jockey Club was founded in 1743), residents of, and visitors to the state of Maryland have a great range of legal options for on course and off-track betting locations and online horse racing betting sites.

Trackside Betting

There are 5 Horse Racing tracks (including the iconic Pimlico Racetrack, home of the second leg of the Triple Crown – the Preakness Stakes) in the State of Maryland and 2 live harness racing tracks.

Off Track Betting (OTB) in Maryland

The small state of Maryland currently offers 6 OTB locations, although there is no legal impediment to the number of OTBs available and occasionally OTB’s are open for service (under state license) at county fairs.

Online Horse Racing in Maryland

Most online horse racing betting sites operating in the United States accept customers from the Old-Line State of Maryland and offer real money betting action on all the big U.S. races (the Preakness Stakes and the rest of the Triple Crown, Arkansas Derby, Kentucky Derby etc.) and international horse racing.

Visit Our Gambling in Maryland page for more information on the states gambling laws and reviews of the Top online casinos licensed in the Old Line State