Maryland | SportsBettingInMaryland.com

Satellite Casinos Making Their Way To The Maryland Pennsylvania Border

Michael Molter — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 18:38:52 +0000

Ten licenses were held for satellite casinos from a 2017 PA gambling expansion measure.
Greenwood Gaming was granted a license in Shippensburg, PA.
The venue is set to open in 2020 and generate $45 million in annual gaming revenue.

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The fifth meeting held by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board on Monday listened to public input for satellite casino expansions in the state.

In 2017, the state approved a gambling expansion measure to allow casinos to operate “satellite casinos”, which permit for additional gaming in an area that does not have a current gambling establishment.

This meeting went into the details for Greenwood Gaming’s expansion of Parx Casino. The plan on the table would allow Parx to operate a satellite casino in Shippensburg in attempts to bring in additional money from Maryland gamblers.

Located between Interstates 81 and 76, the property would encompass 10 acres off of Exit 29 on I-81. A few hundred jobs would be created in the process from the gaming, hospitality, and administrative operations.

The newly licensed casino will look to generate about $45 million in gaming revenue per year. Their application explained how they would come to those numbers.

“The corridor is home to a number of Fortune 500 and logistics companies, who have chosen the location because of the region’s proximity to the major metropolitan areas of the East Coast.”

Additionally, with 65,000 square feet of proposed space, the casino will have no problem supplying the 40 table games, 750 slot machines, a poker room, and a sportsbook lounge that are limited to satellite casinos under Pennsylvania law.

The property will also be able to set aside room for 500 parking spaces.

With half of the ten satellite licenses in use, the bidding process will only get more extreme in the future. The state has already generated $127 million from their bids, including the $8.1 million given from Greenwood Gaming for the Shippensburg license.

The venue is set to open sometime in 2020.

The post Satellite Casinos Making Their Way To The Maryland Pennsylvania Border first appeared on SportsBettingInMaryland.com.

Maryland Sports Betting Would Help Fund Education

Daniel Borjas — Wed, 13 Feb 2019 18:44:42 +0000

ANNAPOLIS, Md – A new house bill has been submitted in Maryland and some of the proceeds that sports betting would generate would go towards education.

House members have filed MD HB 1132 and it would legalize sports betting in the Old Line State. The legislation would allow for the State Lottery to conduct and operate all sports gambling in the state.

Where The Money Is Going

As the bill is currently written, state-approved lottery and horse racing operators can apply for a $300,000 license so they can offer sports betting and the renewal for the license would be $50,000. With the funds that is collected through the license cost, 80 percent of that money will go towards education. The other 20 percent will go to a problem gambling fun and local impact grants.

This is not the only money that will go towards education. The profits that a license holder gains from their sports wagering operations will be split between the license holder and the state. The state will receive 20 percent of the money and 80 percent will be kept by the holder.

The money that the state gains from the 20 percent tax will go towards state operations. That of course, includes education. The state using sports gambling to fund education is needed in Maryland.

Education Is Underfunded In Maryland

In the past, schools in the state were severely underfunded. According to the Maryland State Education Association, the public school system is annually underfunded by $2.9 billion, which is an average of $2 million underfunded in each school. The underfunding has led to more students in a single classroom for one teacher and educators having to work a second job to make ends meet.

Although the money generated from licenses wouldn’t be enough to fill in the $2.9 billion gap, the money generated from sports betting could help. There is no guarantee that the 20 percent tax would go towards education, but this bill aims to make steps in the right direction when allocating funds towards the education deficit.

This bill is attempting to go around a constitutional amendment and allow sports betting in Maryland to be legal July 1 this year. But sportsbooks will likely not be opened until a year later. Once sports betting launches in Maryland, bettors can make wagers knowing they are helping fund the states education system.

The post Maryland Sports Betting Would Help Fund Education first appeared on SportsBettingInMaryland.com.

Maryland Sports Betting A Possibility… In 2020

Sierra Kennedy — Tue, 29 May 2018 18:52:54 +0000

Annapolis, MD - While states like Pennsylvania, Delaware, and West Virginia have followed in New Jersey’s footsteps with legalizing full-scale sports wagering, Maryland appears to be going down a different path. In typical MD fashion, the state will likely be amongst the last to introduce sports betting.

You may recall that Maryland did not legalize slot machines until 2008, and a voter referendum in 2012 approved table games along with a sixth casino location. For comparison's sake, New Jersey opened its first casino in 1978 and West Virginia legalized casinos in 1994.

It seems as if sports betting in Maryland will once again be behind its neighbors when it comes to gambling expansion, though certain lawmakers did push for the opposite outcome. In February, the House of Delegates attempted to put a referendum on the November ballot to authorize sports betting. Though the bill got approval through the House, it quickly died in the Senate.

Now that the United States Supreme Court has ruled PASPA unconstitutional and other states have passed sports wagering laws, MD will be the odd-man out until their next opportunity to put sports betting on the ballot - 2020.

While you would naturally think this would be disappointing to sports fans in the state, lawmakers have taken the opposite opinion. Policymakers realize that though sports betting is a billion-dollar industry, not much of that money is actually wagered legally.

For example, during Super Bowl LII the American Gaming Association estimated that only 3%, or $138.5 million, of the $4.76 billion wagered on the game would be wagered at a legal Nevada sportsbook. That means that 97%, or $4.6 billion, would be wagered illegally.

In Nevada, about 2% of total revenue comes directly from sports wagering. This is hardly anything for MD legislators to jump at, especially since this number will potentially be lower with increased competition.

Analysts researching the economic impacts of sports betting in the state estimate that potential revenue would range from $13.7 million to $181 million annually. With Maryland’s casinos currently bringing in $140 million per month in revenue from table games and slots, even the high end of that estimate seems tiny in comparison.

Another reason why policymakers are slow to pull the trigger on legalized sports wagering is that there is no clear consensus on who should be able to offer it. The existing House bill authorized both horse racetracks and casinos to allow sports betting, but some lawmakers expressed that only casinos should be able to allow sports gambling.

Of course, Maryland’s proposed sports betting bill died before the Supreme Court ruled on Murphy vs. NCAA. With the federal sports betting ban lifted and multiple states legalizing the activity, MD will likely feel more pressure to come to a decision on the matter.

If and when sports betting does come to Maryland, gaming operators in the state will be ready. Joe Weinberg, CEO of Cordish Global Gaming, which owns Maryland Live! Casino in Hanover, expressed his interest.

“We would be prepared to commence sports betting pretty much immediately after the passage of the implementing legislation by the state of Maryland,” stated Weinberg. “We have the infrastructure in place to be able to add it very, very quickly.”

Barring a miraculous special session, the sports betting discussion will reopen in the 2019 legislative session with a potential vote on the matter in November 2020.

The post Maryland Sports Betting A Possibility… In 2020 first appeared on SportsBettingInMaryland.com.

Maryland Sports Betting: Casinos And Racetracks At Odds

Sierra Kennedy — Tue, 29 May 2018 18:50:11 +0000

Annapolis, MD - While lifting the federal sports betting ban was a major win for the nation as a whole, there are still individual states where the fight for legal sports wagering is ongoing. One of these states is Maryland, where the horse racing industry and casino operators are at odds on who should be able to accept bets on sports.

Casino Operators vs. Horse Tracks

Joe Weinberg, CEO of Cordish Global Gaming, which owns Maryland Live! Casino, expressed his vision of the future of sports betting in Maryland.

“The Court’s decision is both a victory for state’s rights and for the millions of Americans who want to legally bet on sports in a safe, regulated environment,” stated Weinberg.

“Sports betting should be made available exclusively through the regulated casinos in Maryland, where it is best positioned to protect consumers and maximize tax revenues to the state.”

On the other hand, horse racing operators see sports wagering as an opportunity to help revitalize a struggling industry. Tim Ritvo, COO of the Stronach Group, stated how sports wagering could add more to the overall experience at racetracks like Pimlico, which the group owns.

While he does not think that sports gambling is going to revolutionize the industry, “it’s an added amenity for a customer, where he can go to an event like a race track and bet some races and bet some games… it becomes a social experience.”

The House vs. The Senate

The landmark decision in Murphy vs. NCAA did not legalize sports betting across the United States, it merely removed the prohibition on sports gambling. As such, each state can decide whether to regulate sports wagering and determine which entities are eligible for licensure.

Like many states, Maryland introduced a preemptive sports betting bill prior to the ruling on the New Jersey sports betting case. While states like West Virginia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania were successful, the Maryland General Assembly was not able to agree on the language of the bill.

Introduced by the House of Delegates, MD HB 1014 http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?pid=billpage&stab=01&id=hb1014&tab=subject3&ys=2018rs authorized wagering at horse racing tracks and licensed casinos throughout the state. The bill quickly passed the House by a margin of 124-14, giving the impression that it would fare well in the upper chamber.

On the contrary, the House and Senate could not agree on details such as whether or not casinos should hold exclusive rights over sports betting. Aside from a committee hearing, no further action was taken on the bill in the Senate.

When Will A Resolution Be Made?

If the House and Senate would have been able to pass the sports betting bill, the referendum would have appeared on the November 2018 voter ballot. The next legislative session will not begin until January 2019, and a spokeswoman for Governor Larry Hogan has stated that there are no plans to call a special session.

MD HB 1014 was not the first sports betting bill to be introduced in Maryland, and it certainly will not be the last.

Senator Nancy King had introduced MD SB 0836 http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?pid=billpage&stab=01&id=sb0836&tab=subject3&ys=2018rs around the same time as the House bill, however, it also died in the Senate. The Senate bill was more general compared to MD HB 1014, simply calling for a sports wagering referendum without stating which parties would be eligible for licensure.

Both of these bills were proposed prior to the Supreme Court ruling on the New Jersey case. With sports betting in Maryland now a reality, King and other policymakers are more motivated to come to a consensus during the 2019 legislative session. If an agreement is made next year, the earliest we would see legal Maryland sportsbooks is 2020.

"I think we'll do more working with the House to come up with some bill both sides can agree on early in the game," she said. "It would be nice to get it worked out early and get it on the ballot to let the voters decide."

The post Maryland Sports Betting: Casinos And Racetracks At Odds first appeared on SportsBettingInMaryland.com.