Members of a key Maryland state Senate committee heard pleas from business owners last week for inclusion in the coming sports betting business, in addition to those parties authorized for sportsbooks under the sports betting measure passed recently by the state House of Delegates.
The House bill, sponsored by House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, created several different licenses open for applications—for 10 retail sportsbooks an 15 online/mobile betting licenses. The measure, which passed the House easily on a 129-10 vote, also guaranteed sports betting licenses to each of the state’s six casinos, the Laurel Park thoroughbred racetrack, the Maryland state fairgrounds in Timonium, and Riverboat on the Potomac, an off-track betting facility on the Potomac River.
The bill also allows for in-person betting at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore on race days and at the stadiums of the Orioles, Ravens and Washington Football Team on game days and during special events.
The bill landed in the state Senate Budget and Taxation Committee, which last week hosted video testimony from business owners and entrepreneurs asking to be added to the list of guaranteed sports betting licenses in the measure.
Representatives from the Chesapeake Beach hotel Rod ‘N’ Reel, Bingo World in Brooklyn Park and Long Shot’s Restaurant & Bar in Frederick each appealed to be added as guaranteed licensees.
The Rod ‘N’ Reel Resort features 24-hour live bingo and bingo machines. In video testimony, owner Mary Lanham said in-person sports betting would be a “perfect match” to the bingo operation, which is undergoing a $30 million renovation and expansion, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Victoria Clemens of Bingo World reported a similar symmetry, saying sports betting would offer customers “a more complete, fun, festive and friendly” experience. Bruce Bereano, lobbyist for Long Shots, testified saying that all off-track betting sites should be able to have sports betting, too. “They already are venues where wagering and betting is going on, and they should therefore be included for the maximization for sports betting in the state,” he said, according to the Sun.
Other testimony before the committee involved the mobile and online licenses, thought to be the most valuable in that the vast majority of legal sports betting in the U.S. has been online and/or mobile.
Some called on the senators to link mobile licenses to all physical licenses. Prominent among those were lobbyists for the two largest casinos in the state, Maryland Live! and MGM National Harbor.
