Maryland Considers Legalizing Online Casinos
Maryland legislators are restoring previous efforts to expand the state's gaming market to include online gaming by introducing two brand-new propositions. The bills would legislate online casino-style games and internet bingo, but the supreme decision will be delegated citizens.
- Maryland SB 761 and SB 885 set a 2026 referendum with an internet gaming regulatory structure.
- The Maryland structure focuses licensing on existing casinos and authorized partners, not broad brand-new entrants.
- A survey from October 2025 discovers that 71% of Maryland voters oppose the legalization of iGaming.
The plan combines a constitutional referendum with a different costs detailing how such activity would be certified, monitored, and controlled, while also developing consumer protection rules. Lawmakers backing the proposition have highlighted public education funding as a primary location for the state's share of online video gaming profits.
The structure depends on two Senate steps that are meant to work together. Senate Bill 761 represents the constitutional element that would position a referendum before voters during the November 2026 basic election.
The tally concern would ask whether Maryland must allow internet video gaming for specific functions, including support for education funding.
Should voters decline the proposition, the expansion of online gambling would not continue, and neither step would take effect.
The companion legislation, Senate Bill 885, describes the regulative and functional system that would apply if the referendum prospers. It outlines licensing treatments and oversight obligations for online gambling establishment gaming and online bingo under the Maryland State Lottery and Gaming Control Commission.
The bill also lays out eligibility standards, compliance requirements, and protections to protect customers participating in the marketplace.
The structure mainly shows Maryland's existing casino framework. Participation would usually be limited to operators that already run gambling establishments in the state, along with approved partners dealing with those license holders.
However, the expenses' futures remain unpredictable. A poll by Lake Research Partners for the National Association Against iGaming, conducted in October 2025, found that 71% of Maryland citizens would oppose the legalization of online casinos.
Virginia advances iGaming bill with revised language
While Maryland legislators assess whether to put iGaming before voters, throughout the border, Virginia lawmakers continue to advance their own proposition. The Virginia House General Laws Committee voted 15-4 to advance Senate Bill 118 after embracing substitute language and sending out the measure to the Appropriations Committee.
The modified variation removed the costs's earlier date of July 1, 2027, and presented a requirement that the legislation should be reenacted during the 2027 General Assembly session before it can work.
If the expense gets that second approval, the Virginia Lottery Board would start accepting notices of intent from operators beginning July 1, 2027. The board would likewise be required to total regulative rulemaking by Jan. 1, 2028, creating a timeline that might enable online casino operations to release in 2028.
The upgraded bill likewise requires operators to send a separate notification of intent for each internet video gaming platform and makes labor peace contracts a condition for licensing approval. The alternative also modified the distribution of tax income by directing 5% to the Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund and assigning 6% to a newly created Internet Lottery Hold Harmless Fund through Jan.
.
