Maryland’s first online sports betting apps will start taking bets Wednesday, Nov. 23, ending a two-year wait.
Maryland Lottery Director John Martin confirmed the start date on Thursday during a meeting with the state’s Gaming Control Agency, in which the two groups granted final approval to 10 online gaming operators.
Barstool, BetMGM, Caesars, DraftKings, FanDuel, PointsBet and BetRivers will launch first with Betfred, Fanatics and betPARX set to launch later on.
The exact time of Wednesday’s launch will be announced in the next few days, Martin said.
Sports betting has been legal in Maryland since 2020 and while in-person betting is happening at casinos, bureaucratic hoops and legal constraints unique to the state have caused the longest delay launching online of any state to legalize sports betting. Colorado and Louisiana, which legalized sports betting at the same time as Maryland, have had online betting for over a year.
The process has sped up some after Gov. Larry Hogan expressed his frustration with regulators in June, urging them to have live online betting before the start of the NFL season.
While regulators didn’t quite hit that mark, Wednesday’s start date sets up Maryland up to capture a ton of action on the three Thanksgiving NFL games. Along with eight more weeks of regular-season football, the postseason and the Super Bowl, Marylanders will be able to bet on the bulk of NBA and NFL seasons and FIFA World Cup, which is the first World Cup since sports betting became legal outside of Nevada.
When Maryland takes its first bets it will become the 10th most populous state live with legal online sports betting, which will be important to companies like FanDuel and DraftKings under pressure to turn a profit.
Lucky for them, and for bettors, Maryland’s market will be relatively industry friendly, providing low cost of entry and room for competition. Its 15% sports betting tax rate is considered low to average compared to other states.
Though only seven apps will be available to start, Maryland’s law allows up to 53 additional online sportsbooks. Each online-only sportsbook will pay $1.5 million for a license.
Spectrum Gaming estimates Maryland sports betting operators will amass $123.3 million in revenue in their first year, generating $26.4 million in taxes to the state. That’d be more than states with similar population sizes like Indiana and Virginia did in their first years.
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