Maryland Lottery offers lawmakers ideas to cut down on unregulated gambling
As Maryland mulls legislation to regulate online casino, the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency has hammered home to lawmakers the impact of what it calls “bad actors” offering unlicensed and unregulated platforms.
In a letter sent by the agency’s Director John Martin to the state House Ways and Means Committee and made available to SBC Americas, the lottery stressed that “these ‘bad actors’ are offering gaming opportunities that very closely resemble legal, regulated gaming.”
The letter came after a Jan. 15 briefingwhere the subject of how the legislature could better tackle the black market.
Addressing the committee’s Chair, Delegate Vanessa Atterbeary, the lottery asserted that many Maryland online casino players “are deceived by unlicensed offshore websites that pose as legal operators.”
The letter stated that a 2024 report from Yield Sec estimated that there were 892 illegal online gaming operators working in the U.S. in the first half in 2024, as well as 651 affiliates promoting illegal platforms. Citing American Gaming Association (AGA) data, the agency said Americans are thought to illegally gamble around $511 billion annually while not necessarily knowing they are using unlicensed platforms. That activity, says the AGA data, causes states to lose out on $13.3 billion in annual tax revenues.
In Maryland, a 2023 report from The Innovation Group suggested that Maryland’s tax revenue shortfall due to illegal online casino gaming is $197 million. The lottery also emphasized that neighboring states that offer legal online casino, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, are experiencing booming year-on-year growth in online gaming and related tax revenues.
Maryland Lottery has sent wave of C&Ds
The letter stressed that while a core benefit of regulated gaming in Maryland is that it draws customers away from the black market, states “must work with the federal government to stop this gaming activity.”
To that end, the lottery has worked with authorities including the state Attorney General’s Office to send cease-and-desist letters to 11 known illegal gaming operators at the start of 2024. The letter noted that six sweepstakes operators responded to say that they believed they were operating legally and refused to block access to customers in Maryland.
“It should be noted that having a regulated internet gaming market does not insulate the state from or eradicate unregulated actors but it does help control and mitigate lost revenue by bringing gaming activities under the purview of the state,” added the lottery.
“The Agency has already been contacted about a potential bill to further study illegal gaming and we look forward to working with the Ways and Means Committee to divert funds from illegal operators to legal and regulated gaming opportunities in Maryland.”
Online casino push continues
As alluded to by the lottery, a renewed effort to bring legal iGaming to Maryland is underway early in the 2025 legislative session.
Atterbeary is the sponsor of House Bill 17, which would put the issue of online gaming legalization to a referendum. Last year, Atterbeary’s HB 1319 to legalize online gaming passed in the House following a series of amendments but later died in the Senate.
Atterbeary isn’t the only Maryland lawmaker pushing the envelope. Sen. Ron Watson introduced Senate Bill 340, which would allow the lottery to regulate a legal online casino market. Like Atterbeary, Watson also had a similar proposal die last year.
https://sbcamericas.com/2025/02/03/maryland-lottery-online-casino-letter/