Maryland Online Sports Betting

The attitude to sports betting in Maryland (land-based and online) may depend more on remaining competitive with neighboring mid-Atlantic states like Delaware (one of the first states to throw open its doors to legal sports betting).

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 will turn 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.

If the referendum is successful in finding for legal sports betting, there are a number of administrative questions including sports betting taxes to be answered. However, it appears to be only-a-matter-of-time until the lawmakers agree on how sports betting in Maryland may be regulated and administered.

Fans of the adoption of legal sports betting in the Old-Line State can take heart knowing the influential Maryland’s casinos strongly support sports betting. If the state’s voters approve by referendum, lawmakers are likely to follow suit with legislation without few questions knowing both the public and the casino lobby support them.

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

Online Sports Betting in Maryland is currently prohibited under the state’s gambling laws.

As is the norm in many States of the Union, the broad wording of the Maryland State statutes is considered broad sweeping enough to cover online gambling as illegal, although it has never been tested in any court. We anticipate that may potentially alter when the State Legislature drafts the laws that will cover legalized sports betting upon a potentially successful passage of sports betting legalization through referendum.

As mentioned above, in the meantime, DFS and online betting on horse and greyhound racing are both legal ways for the online sports bettor to wager in Maryland.

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