Maryland clears sportsbook partners, delays licenses for five casinos

After a Wednesday two-hour closed session discussion, that ended with the SWARC postponing the approval of pending licenses for the five casinos that have so far applied for a sports betting license in Maryland, the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission greenlit on Thursday partnerships between sportsbook operators and said casinos. These partnerships will need further approval by the state commission.

“Today we had good news Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission soon approved the five facility operators for sports wagering,” said John Martin, Director Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency.

The properties currently awaiting for their licenses are Baltimore’s Horseshoe Casino, Live Casino & Hotel in Hanover, MGM National Harbor in Prince George’s County, Hollywood Casino in Perryville, and Ocean Downs Casino on the Eastern Shore. 

The companies whose licenses have been approved by the Gaming Commission, and are therefore not subject to the approval of SWARC, are as follows:

• Barstool Sports, partner of Hollywood Casino in Perryville
• Caesars Sportsbook, partner of Horseshoe Casino in Baltimore
• FanDuel Sportsbook, partner of Live! Casino & Hotel in Hanover
• BetMGM, partner of MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill
• TwinSpires, partner of Ocean Downs Casino in Berlin

It is unclear when the casinos will be able to open their sportsboooks and kickstart their tandem efforts with these companies to provide sports wagering in the state. The commission's next scheduled meeting, however, is on November 18 at 8:30 a.m. 

The announcement came after the Sports Wagering Application Review Commission (SWARC) held a two-hour closed session discussion on Wednesday to finally postpone the licensing process, alleging the need for further legal advice. After resuming the open session portion of the public meeting, commissioners voted to request supplemental information about ownership from each sports wagering facility applicant. 

Both the casino operators and Governor Larry Hogan have been pushing SWARC to speed up the approval process. Maryland Lottery and Gaming officials initially estimated that sports wagering could be up and running by late fall. This pushback makes that panorama almost utopical. 

Our administration recently approved the first three locations for sports wagering in Maryland.

Tell the legislature’s Sports Wagering Application Review Commission to allow football season betting to begin: [email protected]https://t.co/lV7MUxgSkQ

— Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) October 8, 2021

Once approved by SWARC, the applications will head back to Maryland Lottery and Gaming, where the casinos’ internal control systems, security gaming plans, training protocols and more will be vetted. Screen contractors and vendors associated with their sports wagering plans will also be under scrutiny. This review is likely to take between 30 and 45 days.

If SWARC approves the licenses at its next meeting “and all goes well,” the casinos would be able to open sportsbooks by the start of 2022, Martin said. “We’re obviously disappointed by the lack of progress in yesterday’s SWARC meeting, but we’re pleased that we’ve moved forward in other areas".

According to BizJournals, Martin said Wednesday that “assuming we get the green light on the 18th, we’re still easily another four to six weeks beyond that to get all five of these complete. So that means, unfortunately, we may miss all of 2021 and we may be after the first of the year”. He expressed his hope to be able to accept bets in time for the NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl. 

Gov. Larry Hogan expressed frustration with the timeline after the SWARC meeting on Wednesday and accused legislative leaders of trying to stall the process. The Republican governor, speaking at a coronavirus press conference, noted that the executive branch’s lottery regulators gave initial approval to the five casinos “many weeks ago.”

No one is pushing harder than I am to get sports betting up and running here in the State of Maryland. My full statement following @MDLottery determining that Hollywood Casino and Ocean Downs Casino qualify for sports wagering licenses: pic.twitter.com/fkG7sLFc61

— Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) October 21, 2021

“If, in fact, they don’t act immediately and approve those, and if the legislature has their way in violating the law, then it’s going to be at least a year or more before anyone gets the ability to do gambling in Maryland, sports betting, and potentially it could kill the entire deal,” Hogan said.

Senate President Bill Ferguson responded in a statement noting that the application commission is an independent entity, and said he trusts the ability of the independent commissioners to consider all information, “and use their best judgement to issue licenses fairly”. 

SWARC is an independent sports wagering licensing entity. I wholeheartedly trust in the ability of the independent commissioners - including the Governor's own appointed representatives - to consider all information and use their best judgment to issue licenses fairly.

— Bill Ferguson (@SenBillFerg) November 3, 2021

The lottery and gaming director also expressed frustration with the pace of the approvals for sports betting’s first applicants. "We felt we had everything in place for the approvals today, the award for the SWARC, and when that didn't happen we were really disappointed, as I'm sure all the Maryland sports wagerers are," Martin said. "Their expectation is we get this done."

Sports wagers are expected to bring in $88.9 million for the gaming industry and another $15.7 million for the state by fiscal year 2026. The state will take a 15% cut from the proceeds, estimated to be up to $100 million a year. 

Maryland voters gave their blessing to the concept of legal betting on sports during 2020 election. The state lawmakers earlier this year hashed out the details of what the new industry would look like, naming 17 potential locations for in-person betting, including casinos, thoroughbred horse racing tracks and others.  

Dozen more licenses will be available both for in-person and online betting. The application commission is tasked with setting up the application process for those licenses.