Mobile Betting in Maryland to Launch in 2022, Says Regulator

Mobile sports betting in Maryland is quite close to launch, a new report reveals.

Despite Delay, Mobile Betting in Maryland May Be Launched Soon

John Martin, the Maryland Lottery and Gaming’s director, recently participated in an online webinar called “Meet the Regulators” by VIXIO, the leading provider of regulatory intelligence to gambling and payments industries. During the webinar, Martin acknowledged that the launch of mobile sports betting may be quite close for Maryland. In fact, he pointed out that he is confident the activity will be introduced by the end of the year.

“I am confident there will be mobile wagering in the state of Maryland in 2022.“

John Martin, director at the Maryland Lottery and Gaming

Martin acknowledged that Maryland voters approved sports wagering back in November 2020 and while retail betting launched last year in December, mobile betting is yet to be introduced. Acknowledging the delay in the launch of mobile sports wagering, he pointed out that one of the reasons was a necessary study that analyzed the market. The white paper itself has taken nearly a year, which increased the delay, Martin said. He added that the timeline for launching mobile wagering was also impacted by the current legislation that requires the Maryland Lottery and the Sports Wagering Application Review Commission (SWARC) to give the green light for mobile betting operators.

Rolling Launch Expected in November or December

The new announcement comes after the SWARC voted recently to start approving online sports wagering licenses on a rolling basis. However, this launch was contingent on receiving less than the 60 applications set for online licenses by the Commission before the deadline set for submission on October 21, 2022. Then the SWARC will need to review those applications, as well as background check details which are expected to be provided by the Maryland Lottery.

Addressing that point, Martin revealed that the Lottery hopes the SWARC to start granting mobile sports betting licenses early in November. Given that testing must be undertaken before the official launch, this means that mobile sports betting may be live at some point near the end of next month. According to Martin, if the process is delayed a bit and the SWARC starts awarding licenses in mid-November, then, the timeline for launching mobile sports betting on a rolling basis may shift toward the beginning of December.

Currently, leading operators such as FanDuel, BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook, PointsBet, BetRivers and Barstool already offer retail sports betting services. Considering that they have already cleared background checks and received approval for launching retail services, it is likely that those operators will be among the first to launch mobile betting as well. Given the timeline, it looks like sports fans in the state may be able to enjoy mobile betting well before the anticipated launch of the Super Bowl LVII set for February 2023.