Maryland has become the latest gaming state to examine the addition of sports betting, as state Senator Chris West last week prefiled SB 58, a bill to allow sports betting at the state’s casinos and horse racetracks.
As with casinos, authorization of sports betting would require an amendment to the state constitution. The sports betting measure, if passed by the legislature, would be placed on November’s election ballot for approval by the state’s voters.
The bill does not include online or mobile betting, which constitute the vast majority of sports wagers currently in states like New Jersey and Pennsylvania. West told Legal Sports Report that lawmakers should proceed cautiously with respect to online and mobile wagering. “We should walk before we run,” West said.
Sports betting likely “will be given serious consideration this year,” West told the news service. He doesn’t know anyone that’s against legalizing it, he added.
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The prefiled bill is a shell without much detail. Under the measure, 11 sports betting licenses would be available to six casinos and five racetracks. While there is no tax regimen included in the bill, West told Legal Sports Report he is mulling a 20 percent rate, the same as casino table games are taxed.
West estimated $40 million to $60 million in annual tax revenue would be generated by Maryland sportsbooks, which would presuppose a handle of $300 million to $600 million—a tall order without online and mobile betting, which constituted more than 80 percent of New Jersey’s $270 million in sports wagers this year, in a state with a smaller population than New Jersey.
According to a study conducted last year by Maryland’s Department of Legislative Services, last year’s sports betting bill would have resulted in $7.1 million in tax revenue, predicated on the Nevada retail model, in which sports betting accounts for 2 percent of gaming revenue.
West said he wrote the bill with Timonium Raceway, a track at the state fairgrounds in his district, in mind. The track only conducts a few racing days a year, but a sportsbook would open it up to earning revenue the remainder of the year.
