Online Casinos in Maryland
Are real-money online casinos legal in the Old Line State, and what can you actually play online right now?
- Real-money online casinos
- Not legal, none licensed
- Online sports betting
- Legal, mobile apps live since November 2022
- Commercial casinos
- Six retail venues statewide
- Tribal casinos
- None, no federally recognized tribes
- Online lottery
- Subscription only, no online instant games
- Sweepstakes / social casinos
- Available, two 2026 ban bills stalled in Senate
- Minimum gambling age
- 21 for casino and sports, 18 for lottery
- Regulator
- Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency
HB 1319 Cleared the House, Then Stopped
Delegate Vanessa Atterbeary's House Bill 1319, the Internet Gaming Authorization and Implementation Act, passed the House of Delegates 92-43 on March 18, 2024. It was the first iGaming bill ever to clear a Maryland chamber. The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee held a hearing eight days later, took testimony from operators and union representatives, and never scheduled a vote. The General Assembly adjourned on April 8 with the bill dead. The question never reached voters.
- House vote
- 92-43
- Senate floor vote
- 0
- Proposed online slot tax
- 55%
- DLS projection, FY2029
- $694M
What was actually in the bill
- Eligible operators
- Six commercial casinos, four off-track betting parlors, two bingo halls
- License cap
- Up to 30 iGaming licenses, five-year terms
- Application fee
- $1 million up front, renewals tied to three-year average profit
- Tax on online slots
- 55% of gross gaming revenue, identical to the slot rate at Maryland Live!
- Tax on live dealer
- 20% of gross gaming revenue, lower to protect retail floors
- Where the tax money goes
- About one third routed to the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Fund for K-12 education
The Department of Legislative Services fiscal note projected $539.4 million in iGaming proceeds in fiscal 2026 and $694.1 million by fiscal 2029, with $180.1 million and $310.7 million respectively flowing to the Blueprint for Maryland's Future Fund. None of that money has been collected. Atterbeary told reporters at the bill hearing that Maryland was choosing to leave the revenue on the table while neighbors collected it. The Senate disagreed.
How It Happened
Voters approve sports betting via Question 2
Around 67% of Maryland voters back the constitutional amendment authorizing sports and event wagering.
Mobile sports betting goes live
Seven licensed sportsbooks launch online on day one, including DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, and Caesars.
HB 1319 passes the Maryland House 92-43
Delegate Vanessa Atterbeary's bill would have put iGaming on the November 2024 ballot as a constitutional amendment.
HB 1319 dies in the Senate
The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee held a hearing but never voted, and the session ended with the bill expired.
2026 session ends with iGaming again dead
SB 885 stalls in committee and two House sweepstakes ban bills, HB 295 and HB 1226, die in the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee.
Every Expansion Needs a Statewide Vote
Article XIX of the Maryland Constitution, ratified by 58.7 percent of voters in November 2008, requires that any new form of commercial gambling pass a referendum at a general election. Slots, table games, a sixth casino, and sports betting all cleared the bar. Online casinos have not, because no iGaming bill has yet survived long enough to put the question on a ballot. A tax rate change on an already-legal product does not count as expansion. That is why the legislature raised the mobile sports-betting tax from 15 to 20 percent in May 2025 without a referendum, but cannot authorize online slots the same way.
| Year | Topic | Result | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Question 2 | Slot machines at five locations | 58.7% yes | Created Article XIX itself. Authorized up to 15,000 video lottery terminals and locked in the referendum requirement for future expansions. |
| Question 7 | Table games plus a sixth casino in Prince George’s County | 51.9% yes | Closest gambling vote in state history. Authorized live table games and the National Harbor site that MGM opened in December 2016. |
| Question 2 | Sports and event wagering | 66.3% yes | Cleared the way for HB 940 in 2021 and mobile sports betting in November 2022. Eleven mobile sportsbooks are now licensed. |
| No ballot question | Online slots and table games (HB 1319) | Died in Senate | The first iGaming bill ever to clear a Maryland chamber. Never reached voters because the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee did not advance it. |
The narrow 2012 margin is the historical warning. Question 7 authorized live table games and a sixth casino site in Prince George's County, where MGM National Harbor later opened. The vote split 51.9 percent yes to 48.1 percent no after both sides spent more than $90 million combined, the most expensive ballot campaign in Maryland history. Any iGaming question would arrive on a ballot already crowded with NAAiG-funded opposition and would have to clear a simple majority statewide.
Three Borders, All Legal iGaming
Pennsylvania to the north, West Virginia to the west, and Delaware to the east all let residents play real-money online slots and table games. New Jersey is an hour from the Eastern Shore. The seven legal iGaming states produced about $7.5 billion in gross gaming revenue in calendar 2024, with Pennsylvania alone matching Maryland's entire retail casino base. Maryland collects no online casino tax. State residents who want to play legally drive across the line.
| State | 2024 revenue | Tax | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| PennsylvaniaLaunched Jul 2019 | $2.18B | 54% slots, 16% tables | Borders Maryland on the north. |
| New JerseyLaunched Nov 2013 | $2.40B | 17.5% effective, hike to 19.75% July 2025 | One hour from the Eastern Shore. |
| MichiganLaunched Jan 2021 | $2.20B | 20–28% tiered on iGaming | Not adjacent. |
| West VirginiaLaunched Jul 2020 | $216M | 15% on iGaming | Borders Maryland on the west. |
| ConnecticutLaunched Oct 2021 | $430M | 18% on iGaming through 2026, 20% after | Two-hour drive from the northern border. |
| DelawareLaunched Nov 2013 | $50M | State-run platform, profit-share model | Borders Maryland on the east. |
| MarylandLaunched Not legal | $0 | No iGaming statute on the books | Surrounded on three sides. |
The U.S. iGaming market grew 27.6 percent in 2025 to $10.73 billion across the seven legal states, per the American Gaming Association State of the States 2026. Pennsylvania alone pulled in $3.46 billion that year. The Maryland DLS fiscal note that priced HB 1319 at $694 million annually by fiscal 2029 sits well inside the band that PA, NJ, and MI have already proven a state can hit.
Sweepstakes Casinos for Maryland
With no licensed online casinos here, sweepstakes sites are the legal way to play slots and table games online. These are placeholders until our database is wired in.
Casinos we play at. We earn a commission when you sign up through these.
Why There Are No Online Casinos
Maryland regulates retail casinos and sports wagering through the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency, but no state law authorizes real-money online casino games. Article XIX of the Maryland Constitution treats any expansion of commercial gambling as a referendum question, so an iGaming statute cannot just clear the General Assembly. It also has to pass a statewide vote at a general election.
In the 2024 session, Delegate Vanessa Atterbeary's HB 1319 cleared the House 92-43 and would have put online casinos on the November ballot. The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee held a hearing on March 26 and never voted, and the session ended on April 8 with the bill dead. The 2026 session repeated the pattern. SB 885 got a committee hearing but never advanced, while two House bills targeting sweepstakes operators passed the chamber and stalled in the same Senate committee. As of May 2026 no iGaming statute is on the books, and casino-worker unions and the retail-cannibalization argument remain the main blockers.
Four Gambling Bills, One Senate Committee
Every gambling-policy bill that has reached the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee since 2024 has died there. The committee, chaired by Sen. Guy Guzzone of Howard County, has taken testimony on each one and declined to schedule a single floor vote. The pattern is not partisan. Both chambers run Democratic supermajorities and the bills came from Democratic sponsors, the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency itself, or both.
| Bill | Topic | House | Senate |
|---|---|---|---|
| HB 1319 | Internet gaming, ballot referendum for online slots and tables | Passed House 92-43 | Hearing Mar 26, no vote, died Apr 8 |
| SB 885 | Online casino with labor-peace agreement and $10M displacement fund | Filed in Senate | Hearing Mar 11, failed to clear crossover |
| HB 295 | Sweepstakes casino prohibition, requested by MLGCA itself | Passed House 105-24 | No vote, died at adjournment Apr 13 |
| HB 1226 | Illegal Online Gambling Enforcement Act, broader sweeps ban | Passed House 134-2 | No vote, died at adjournment Apr 13 |
The two 2026 sweepstakes-ban bills landed in B&T even though their content has nothing to do with revenue policy. HB 295 came from the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency. HB 1226 was titled the Maryland Illegal Online Gambling Enforcement Act and would have banned operators, affiliates, and payment processors. Both cleared the House on near-unanimous votes (105-24 and 134-2 respectively) and neither cleared the same Senate committee that has been sitting on iGaming. Until that committee changes its posture or until leadership reassigns gambling bills elsewhere, the path stays blocked.
What You Can Play Online
The legal options available to Maryland residents right now.
Online Sports Betting
Legal since November 23, 2022, after voters approved Question 2 in 2020 and Governor Larry Hogan signed HB 940 the following May. Licensed mobile sportsbooks include DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Caesars, and BetRivers. Regulated by the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency, 21+.
Retail Casinos
Six commercial casinos operate statewide: MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Live! Casino & Hotel in Hanover, Horseshoe Baltimore, Hollywood Casino Perryville, Ocean Downs in Berlin, and Rocky Gap in Flintstone. Slots, table games, and poker. 21+.
Maryland Lottery
The MD Lottery sells draw tickets, scratch-offs, and Keno through licensed retailers. Powerball and Mega Millions subscriptions can be set up online through the My Lottery Rewards portal, but the state does not run a full iLottery with online instant games. 18+.
Sweepstakes & Social Casinos
No Maryland statute currently bans the sweepstakes model. Free-to-play and dual-currency casino-style sites are accessible to residents, though House Bills 295 and 1226 passed the chamber in March 2026 and could return in 2027. The closest legal substitute for online casino games.
Who Owns the Maryland Casino Floors
The six commercial casinos produced $1.965 billion in gross gaming revenue in fiscal 2025 and sent $831.3 million to the state. Three of the six operators (Cordish, Churchill Downs, and PENN) sit on the board of the National Association Against iGaming, the coalition that has been the loudest voice in every Senate hearing. The Horseshoe and Ocean Downs workforces are union members under UNITE HERE Local 7, whose president testified against both HB 1319 and SB 885 on the grounds that online play threatens table-game dealer hours and hospitality jobs.
| Casino | Operator | Opened | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| MGM National HarborOxon Hill | MGM Resorts International | Opened Dec 8, 2016 | Largest. Sits ten miles from the U.S. Capitol and draws heavily from DC and Virginia. |
| Live! Casino & HotelHanover | The Cordish Companies | Opened Jun 6, 2012 | Cordish co-founded the National Association Against iGaming with Churchill Downs and PENN. |
| Horseshoe Casino BaltimoreBaltimore | Caesars Entertainment | Opened Aug 26, 2014 | Workforce is unionized through UNITE HERE Local 7, which testified against HB 1319 and SB 885. |
| Hollywood Casino PerryvillePerryville | PENN Entertainment | Opened Sep 27, 2010 | First Maryland casino. Authorized by the 2008 Question 2 slots amendment. |
| Ocean Downs CasinoBerlin | Churchill Downs Inc. | Opened Jan 4, 2011 | Harness-racing site near Ocean City. Churchill Downs put the property name on the NAAiG masthead. |
| Rocky Gap Casino ResortFlintstone | Century Casinos | Opened May 22, 2013 | Smallest. Century bought operations from Golden Entertainment for $56.1 million in July 2023. |
- Innovation Group, initial
- 10%
- Innovation Group, revised
- 16%
- EKG study, retail boost
- +2.44%
- FY2025 retail GGR
- $1.97B
The Innovation Group prepared a 2023 cannibalization study for the Maryland General Assembly that estimated brick-and-mortar revenue would fall about 10 percent under regulated iGaming, or roughly $98 million a year on Maryland's retail base at the time. The firm later revised the figure to 16 percent. Eilers & Krejcik Gaming ran a counter-study in 2025 that tracked land-based growth in the six legal iGaming states against land-based-only peers and reported a 2.44 percent quarterly boost for the retail floors in five of the six. Both studies are now standard exhibits in every Maryland committee hearing. The Senate has not chosen between them.
Maryland Gambling FAQ
Are online casinos legal in Maryland?
No. Maryland has not legalized real-money online casino games, and no operator is licensed by the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency to offer them. Sites advertising "MD online casino real money" are offshore and operate without state oversight.
Can I legally bet on sports online in Maryland?
Yes. Mobile sports betting launched November 23, 2022, after voters approved Question 2 in 2020 and Governor Hogan signed HB 940 in May 2021. The minimum age is 21 and licensed operators include DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Caesars, and BetRivers.
What happened to the 2024 Maryland iGaming bill?
Delegate Vanessa Atterbeary's HB 1319 passed the House 92-43 on March 18, 2024, and would have put online casinos on the November 2024 ballot. The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee held a hearing on March 26 but never voted, and the bill died when the session ended on April 8.
Are sweepstakes casinos allowed in Maryland?
Maryland has no enacted ban on sweepstakes operators as of May 2026, so the sites are still reachable from the state. HB 295 and HB 1226 both passed the House in March 2026 with the goal of outlawing dual-currency casino-style games, but both stalled in the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee before the April 13 adjournment.
How old do you have to be to gamble in Maryland?
You must be 21 to play at Maryland's six retail casinos and to place a sports bet, in person or on a licensed app. The minimum age for the Maryland Lottery and for charitable gaming is 18.
Will Maryland legalize online casinos?
Not yet. Any iGaming law has to clear a statewide referendum because Article XIX of the Maryland Constitution treats it as a gambling expansion. The 2024 and 2026 sessions both ended with iGaming bills dead in the Senate, so the earliest possible ballot question would follow the 2027 session or later.