Maryland online-casino bill loses chance at passage, battle ends for 2024

Posted on: April 10, 2024 18:02 PDT

Maryland poker players' hopes that its state would join the slowly growing list of US states to approve and regulate online poker sites have ended after the state's Senate has declined to consider a proposed referendum that would have put the option to legalize online casino-style gambling before voters in November.

The referendum-seeking measure offered by State Senator Ron Watson for consideration expired on Monday without action in a Senate committee. Watson, a backer of legalized iGaming in Maryland, had shifted his focus to a possible referendum after talks with fellow senators showed insufficient support to move an online-casino bill that was passed by the state's House earlier in March.

Though the online-casino bill, House Bill 1319, passed with ease in the state legislature's lower chamber, it encountered far more opposition in the Senate, including complaints from live-casino workers that online iGaming would cannibalize their jobs. Despite research showing online-casino offerings to be complimentary rather than cannibalistic, the fear-based complaint invariably surfaces in the debate for legalization whenever an online-casino bill is proposed anywhere in the US.

Maryland iCasino approval must wait until at least 2026

Legislative rules in Maryland mean that the state will not have legalized and regulated online poker or other casino-style games until 2026 at the earliest. Legislation can be proposed at any time, but any change to the state's gambling laws requires a constitutional amendment, and that, in turn, requires voter approval.

By next year or 2026, circumstances regarding the state's budget situation may make the topic more ripe for consideration. The state is expected to face increasing budget deficits over the next decade as it implements an already-approved Blueprint for Maryland's Future, a plan to revitalize the state's educational system that will cost $40 billion over the next ten years.

Sen. Watson, in describing the iGaming measure's slim chances, described the Maryland Senate as generally unwilling to act on a situation or topic until problems have become fully realized. Since the online-gambling measures were pitched as an extra-revenue channel for the state, they ran into some headwinds from the fact that for the current year, Maryland has a balanced state budget. That may change in the next year, and a slide into red numbers may make fence-sitters more likely to consider a regulatory framework.

The added two-year lag will also allow lobbyists to work with two of the state's six licensed casinos that came out against the legalization of online casinos. Ocean Downs Casino and Racetrack, along with Live! Casino and Hotel Maryland, opposed legalization, citing the same cannibalization fears as their workers.