After a failed attempt in 2023 to legalize online poker and casino gaming in Maryland, Senator Ron Watson is coming back with a new bill to create a new digital industry.
According to the Maryland Reporter, the bill would allow each of Maryland’s six land-based casinos to partner with two iGaming operators, for up to a dozen new providers. Applicants would pay a $1 million license fee for a four-year term, along with state taxes. The proposed tax rate on online casino gaming would be 45.6 percent, and the games would be open to adults 21 years of age and older.
If approved, the legislation would also allow cross-state gambling, so Maryland poker players could compete against players in other states as part of the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA). As of 2023, five states were part of the treaty: Nevada, New Jersey, Michigan, West Virginia and Delaware, with more states expected to join in 2024.
In a survey of 1,000 Marylanders conducted by MD Betting, 75 percent said they wanted legal online casinos and poker. And a study by the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency estimated that iGaming could generate $533 million in the first year alone.
“Sports betting was huge,” said Watson. “This is five times that; iGaming is the gorilla of gaming.”
According to USBets.com, several big mobile operators are likely to compete for the new licenses, including BetMGM and FanDuel, both of which have a retail and mobile sports betting presence in Maryland.
One percent of gross revenue would go to the state lottery and 1 percent to the state’s Problem Gambling Fund. The rest would be earmarked for the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Fund, which underwrites education in the state.
