At its next meeting on November 21, Maryland’s Sports Wagering Approval Review Commission is going to announce the first sports betting operators that will be granted licenses for offering mobile sports betting in the state.
Maryland to Launch Mobile Sports Betting at the End of November
CBS Baltimore reported that Maryland residents are finally going to be able to make sports bets from their phones.
The state’s Sports Wagering Approval Review Commission is currently accepting applications for mobile sports betting licenses with a deadline of October 21. These applications will be reviewed by the Commission and at their next meeting on November 21 the first licenses for mobile betting in Maryland will be announced.
The licensing procedure will be on a rolling basis and does not have a specific launch date. The operators, which receive licenses first will be the first to offer mobile sports betting to Maryland residents.
The launch of online sports betting will follow shortly as well.
Maryland approved the legalization of sports betting in the state about two years ago but the process of creating the necessary legislation and launching the market has taken a long time.
The state already has retail sports betting, which was launched in December 2021 to great success generating sports wagers of $16.5 million just in the first month.
According to the results for the fiscal year 2022, which ended on June 30, 2022, Maryland’s state coffers have collected $2.9 million in tax revenue from sports betting. This number is quite impressive considering the fact that the market was launched in late December 2021.
According to data from Maryland Lottery and Gaming, the contribution from sports betting only in August was $477,000.
Numbers are expected to increase considerably after mobile and online sports betting is also made available in Maryland.
The Review of the Applications for Mobile Sports Betting Licenses Will Be a Lengthy Process
So far, the Sports Wagering Approval Review Commission has received a total of 10 licenses with still a some time left until the deadline.
The process of reviewing and approving the applications is going to be long, especially if a larger number of applicants submit at the last minute.
The Commission shall have to do extensive reviews of the applications, and background checks on the companies and the data they have provided.
As leading sports betting operators such as FanDuel, BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook, PointsBet, BetRivers, and Barstool have already been granted licenses for offering retail sports betting in the state, the Commission won’t have to do background checks on their applications again.
This could possibly speed up the process and makes it likely that these operators will be the first to launch their mobile betting services in Maryland.