Online sports betting sites in Maryland will be taking their first legal wagers on Monday, as part of a “controlled demonstration” that must be completed before the full launch of mobile wagering on Wednesday in the state.
Rush Street Interactive Inc., the operator of BetRivers, said that Maryland bettors aged 21 and up could start depositing funds and placing wagers with the site starting Monday afternoon. The company said the controlled demonstration would run from 2 p.m. Eastern Time to 10 p.m. ET.
“Following the controlled demonstration period from November 21-22 and pending receipt of regulatory approvals, BetRivers expects to be fully live with online and mobile sports wagering operations this Wednesday, November 23, 2022,” Chicago-based RSI added in a press release.
BetRivers will be just one of several online sports betting sites taking part in the Old Line State’s soft launch, which requires bookmakers to prove to regulators that all their systems and internal control procedures are working correctly.
Once regulators are satisfied everything is in order, bookmakers will be cleared to participate in the full launch of online sports betting in Maryland on Wednesday.
Ready to go
Several online sportsbooks will be waiting on the starting line and accepting action from Maryland bettors as soon as possible.
DraftKings and FanDuel, for instance, are among the seven sportsbooks expected to launch this coming Wednesday in Maryland, the day before the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.
Both operators have said they will be part of the controlled demonstration starting Monday, and both have already begun offering pre-registration promos to state residents to kick-start heavy online betting action in advance of the three NFL games taking place on Thursday.
"With an active sports season currently underway, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to launch our top-rated sportsbook app in Maryland," said Matt Kalish, a DraftKings co-founder, in a recent press release.
Meanwhile, FanDuel announced its app would be available for registrations, deposits, and browsing starting on Monday morning. Then, at 2 p.m. Eastern Time, the FanDuel app will begin accepting bets until 10 p.m., after which it will temporarily suspend activity until it receives final regulatory approval.
The news of the pre-launch activities comes in the wake of last Wednesday's announcement by Maryland Lottery and Gaming Director John Martin, which was that the regulator was intending to start online sports betting on November 23, with the exact time still to be determined.
Martin cautioned, however, that there remains one last series of hurdles that each operator must clear before they can officially begin taking bets on Wednesday.
"I want to stress that the controlled demonstration is one of several operational requirements that must be successfully completed before launch," Martin said.
Three operators ruled out
Martin also revealed that three of the approved ten operators have informed the state that they will not be participating in this week's official launch.
Two of these sportsbooks — Betfred, licensed under Long Shot's in Frederick, and Fanatics, operating in partnership with the Washington Commanders football team — have already indicated that they will not be ready until early in 2023.
Meanwhile, there has been no announcement from the remaining operator, betPARX, which is tied to the Greenmount Station off-track betting facility in Hampstead, as to when it plans to go live. This could be related to the difficulties faced by smaller operators, which lack the track record and resources of the major sportsbooks.
Still, the seven mobile sportsbooks poised to launch in Maryland this week are:
- Barstool Sportsbook
- BetRivers
- BetMGM
- Caesars Sportsbook
- DraftKings
- FanDuel
- PointsBet
Launch comes after lengthy delays
Maryland's long-awaited launch of mobile sports wagering comes just a little over two years after state voters on Nov. 3, 2020, overwhelmingly approved a state ballot measure to legalize sports betting. The state legislature subsequently passed a bill to that effect in April 2021.
But ever since, state bettors have been left hanging due to a drawn-out regulatory process overseen in part by the newly-created Sports Wagering Application Review Commission (SWARC). While in-person sports betting has already begun at several brick-and-mortar gaming facilities in the state, mobile wagering has been much slower to get off the ground.
This summer, outgoing Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who was exasperated by SWARC's pace, urged the regulators to allow mobile sportsbooks to go live before the September start of the NFL season. Last week, Hogan issued a statement that highlighted that frustration.
"To reach this point, we have had to overcome countless legal, political, and bureaucratic delays that threatened to push back the launch past the Super Bowl next year," Hogan said. "It was completely unacceptable to me, and we spent months pressing for decisive action."
Regulators, however, had their hands tied to a certain extent due to the state’s unique law, which required them to ensure there is diversity in Maryland’s sports-betting industry.
In October, Maryland reported a record sports-wagering handle of $39.6 million, a 20% increase over the previous month's handle. The state's eight retail sports betting operators took in $5.3 million in gross revenue, with a hold rate of 13.4%
Under state law, sportsbooks are taxed at a rate of 15%, which in October added nearly $800,000 to the Maryland treasury. Most of the tax dollars Maryland collects from operators are earmarked for public schools, with a smaller portion going to the state's Problem Gambling Fund.
