Online sports betting in Maryland hasn’t even been officially live for a week, but regulators are already preparing to approve another batch of mobile bookmakers for a potential launch in the not-too-distant future.
The agenda for this week's special meeting of the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission shows the regulators will hold hearings on Thursday to determine if three more operators of sports betting sites are qualified for licenses in the Old Line State.
Bally Bet, Betway, and WynnBET are the three entities scheduled to have their credentials for mobile sports wagering licenses examined during Thursday's meeting, with qualifications to hold operator licenses for Bally Bet and WynnBET also to be determined. The latter licenses would allow the two operators to conduct mobile sports betting on behalf of one of Maryland’s other licensees.
The commission determines if a company is qualified for a sports-betting license by looking at its financial stability and business history, among other things. Regulatory staffers are recommending that all three entities be found qualified for mobile sports betting licenses.
Boxes to check
If all three are approved by the gaming commission, their applications will move to Maryland’s Sports Wagering Application Review Commission (SWARC), which will determine whether to award them licenses. The SWARC is set to meet next on December 14.
After that, the bookmakers will have to conduct controlled demonstrations of their wagering operations and complete any other necessary regulatory requirements before their licenses are issued and they can start taking bets.
In the meantime, seven mobile bookmakers are already accepting action in bulk in Maryland, after the long-awaited formal launch of online sports betting in the state took place last Wednesday. The seven that are now live in the state are:
“We’re excited to reach this milepost and have mobile wagering available to everyone with Thanksgiving Day football games coming up tomorrow,” Maryland Lottery and Gaming Director John Martin said in a press release last week. “But at the same time, this is only a milepost. There are additional mobile sports wagering entities in the pipeline, and our work is ongoing as we guide them across the finish line.”
Indeed, even as online sports betting was officially getting underway in the Old Line State, regulators were continuing their work to bring even more books into the market.
Maryland's sports-betting law allows for up to 60 mobile licenses to be awarded. Three operators (Betfred, betPARX, and Fanatics) have been awarded licenses but were not ready to launch last week; instead, they’ll do so later this year or early next.
State regulators also received 21 total applications for online sports betting licenses, and Maryland Lottery and Gaming has been running background checks on the other 11 entities, including those that will go before gaming commissioners later this week.
“An applicant must be found qualified via Maryland Lottery and Gaming background investigation before SWARC can award a license,” last week’s press release noted. “Applicants’ names are not disclosed until Maryland Lottery and Gaming completes their background investigations and schedules their qualification hearings.”
