Maryland Among U.S. States Poised To Join Sports Betting Industry
Mobile/online and in-person sports betting was made legal in the United States back in May 2018, and the industry has been a massive boom across the nation.
Sports betting was illegal in most parts of the United States once the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) was signed into law in October of that year. But in May 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned the law, having ruled that it violated the country’s Tenth Amendment.
The ruling allowed each state to legalize sports betting. 30 different states have since launched a form of legal sports gambling, and more will soon join the club. While most of these states allow both in-person and mobile/online betting, a handful of them only allow one with a prohibition on the other.
The state of Ohio is slated to launch sports betting in early 2023. Massachusetts and California have started to make significant progress on that front as well. There was an expectation for MD sports betting to go live in time for the NFL season (the Baltimore Ravens opened their season on Sept. 11 against the New York Jets), but the end of 2022 appears to be a more likely timeline now.
When Maryland launches sports betting, residents will be able to play through sportsbooks such as DraftKings, FanDuel, WynnBet and BetRivers. These sportsbooks offer special welcome bonuses to new customers upon signing up, and there’s a long list of sports and different wagers you can place through these apps.
John Martin, the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Director, recently expressed optimism that The Old Line State will launch sports betting by the end of the year.
“We know sports fans are eager to have mobile wagering, and we also know that it will substantially increase the contributions to education funding, so we’re eager too,” Martin said. “We’ve been doing everything we can to have it launch before the end of the year, and now we have a good chance to make that happen.”
The NFL’s Baltimore Ravens will conclude their 2022 regular season with a Jan. 8 road game against the Cincinnati Bengals. So if sports betting launches by the end of the year, Ravens fans will get the chance to place wagers on their beloved football team.
The Rapid Growth Of Sports Betting In The U.S.
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling which overturned the PASPA, the states of New Jersey, Mississippi and Delaware quickly moved towards launching sports betting.
Those three states joined Nevada in legalized sports gambling. Nevada was a notable exception to the PASPA, with sports betting still running in the state through the duration of the act. More and more states gradually joined sports betting over time.
According to the American Gaming Association’s Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker, July 2022 marked the nation’s third-best grossing month. America’s gaming revenue for the month came in at $5.06 billion, the AGA’s data showed.
The AGA also reported that the second quarter of 2022 netted the country $1.42 billion in revenue from sports wagers, with iGaming bringing in $1.21 billion. The report from AGA also noted that the $1.42 billion mark was an increase of 58.7 percent from the second quarter of last year.
And with more states set to eventually join the sports betting industry, revenue across the country can only increase.
New York Has Been A Game-Changer For The U.S. Betting Economy
Back in January, New York officially launched both in-person and mobile/online gambling. The Empire State has quickly emerged as a national leader in the betting economy.
In less than a year, New Yorkers have already placed more than $10 billion in online bets. In early July, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that the state has surpassed projections by taking in $302.3 million in mobile sports betting tax revenue.
The tax revenue goes towards good causes such as education, youth sporting programs and addiction services, including gambling.
The New York market has more “big four” professional sports franchises than any other in the U.S.: Three NFL teams (New York Jets, New York Giants, Buffalo Bills), three NHL teams (New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Buffalo Sabres), two MLB teams (New York Mets and New York Yankees) and two NBA teams (Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks).
At this time last year, New York sports fans couldn’t bet on the Yankees (a World Series favorite) nor their beloved NFL teams. But both the Mets and Yankees are preparing for October baseball, and New Yorkers can finally enjoy gambling on the Giants, Jets and Bills throughout the course of an entire season.
