Even before there was a United States, there was horse racing in Maryland. Still around today, the Jockey Club owns Pimlico Race Course and is considered the oldest sporting organization in North America.
Poker
Maryland has rapidly expanded its gambling offerings. A long-time center of pari-mutuel horse racing, Maryland now offers full-service land-based commercial casinos. After the passage of a recent referendum, sports betting will also soon be legalized and regulated in the state, joining its neighbors.
We’ve listed our favorite casinos, sportsbooks and poker sites accepting players from Maryland below. Pick a site and start playing!
Online casino players in Maryland can gamble at offshore casino sites. Maryland officials don’t prosecute residents who play online at real money casinos, but it is an unregulated gaming market. That means you will need to research sites with good reputations and the best terms of use. Read our reviews to start that process.
Not yet, but they are likely coming. As part of the November 2020 election, Maryland voters passed a referendum legalizing sports wagering in the state. Legislators still need to work out the details, such as whether to license online operators. As all of Maryland’s neighbors have online sports gambling, Maryland will need to offer the convenience of mobile app-based betting to keep its residents’ money in-state.
Gambling online is not regulated and licensed by the state, but bettors are not prosecuted for playing online. While legal online sports betting is likely coming soon, regulated iCasinos and online poker are not yet planned. Gamblers should read our reviews to determine the best offshore online casinos for their favored style of play.
Online poker has not been legalized and regulated in Maryland, so it exists in a gray area. While players cannot play at locally licensed and regulated online cardrooms or casinos, Maryland authorities do not prosecute players for using offshore platforms. Unlicensed online poker operations with servers in the state could be prosecuted, but internet poker sites of note exist offshore in the Caribbean, Central America, and other locations.
In 2016, Governor Larry Hogan signed HB 127, a bill which allows home poker games. The next step would be licensing and regulating online poker operators within the state.
Our number one pick for an online sportsbook in Maryland is Bovada. New depositors at Bovada receive a $250 welcome bonus. Players can wager on NFL football, NBA basketball, MLB baseball, MLS soccer, and NHL hockey. If you have international tastes, you can wager on the English Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, or Champions League. Bovada also offers a full list of live betting odds.
The minimum age for pari-mutuel horse betting, lottery, and charitable wagering in Maryland is 18 years or older. Gamblers must be 21 or older to enter a Maryland land-based casino. If you play at an online betting site, you will need to be a minimum of 18 years old.
Ignition Casino is our recommendation for Maryland gamblers choosing an online casino. Start an account and you will receive a bonus up to $2,000 for credit card deposits or $3,000 if you use Bitcoin.
Ignition Poker is our recommendation for Maryland online poker players. When a card player makes a deposit at Ignition, they can receive a 150% match up to $1,500 with the Casino + Poker package. Each week, Ignition Poker offers $1.5 million in guaranteed prize cash, along with weekly $2,500 freerolls and $150k guaranteed tournaments.
Maryland has a long history with legal wagering dating to before the Revolutionary War.
Maryland allows several forms of gambling: land-based casinos, racebook betting, charitable bingo, raffles, poker nights, and daily fantasy sports. Soon, you will be able to add sports betting to the list of legal gambling in Maryland.
Sports wagering was approved by a referendum in the November 3, 2020 election. The state revenue made from sports betting will be used to fund public education.
So, what’s next? As of 2021, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan and the majority Democratic General Assembly will work out details of how sports betting will be implemented in the state. Some of the issues they’ll debate include determining which companies can apply for licenses, how bettors will make wagers, how much revenue the state will take, and whether or not online sports betting will occur.
The same cannot be said for online poker or casinos, though. Maryland hasn’t legalized either one —yet.
Maryland gambling legislation approaches the subject differently than most states. Instead of providing a definition of gambling, Maryland gambling laws prohibit all forms of gambling in one broad swipe.
Section 12-101 and 12-102 of the Maryland Criminal Law Code prohibit any “bet, wager, or gamble” using any “gaming table, except a billiard table, at which a game of chance is played for money or any other thing or consideration of value.”
Despite the broad definition of illegal gambling, Maryland law enforcement is not known to charge individual players using offshore casinos. The state also offers a wide array of legal gaming options, with even more coming soon.
Yes, Maryland has five brick-and-mortar casinos and one racino. Big, famous casinos like the MGM National Harbor, Horseshoe Baltimore, and Maryland Live! are popular with gamblers.
Maryland casinos are among the biggest gambling destinations on the eastern seaboard. MGM Resorts (National Harbor) and Caesars Entertainment (Horseshoe) each operate Maryland casinos, while the local Cordish Cos. owns Maryland Live!
Yes, Maryland has one of the most famous horse tracks in the United States: Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.
Pimlico is home to the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown that dominates coverage of thoroughbred racing each year in the United States. In addition to Pimlico, there are three other horse racing tracks in the state, and pari-mutuel horse racing is also run every year at the state fair.
Maryland does not have off-track betting facilities in the state.
For now, the legislature prefers bettors drive to the state’s racetracks and racinos to do their pari-mutuel betting.
Maryland has charitable gambling, which is regulated at the county level of government.
Though bingo halls are available, raffles, card games, and casino nights are the major players in Maryland charitable gambling. Poker nights are restricted to card games, wheel of chance-style games, and roulette.
Social gaming is allowed in Maryland. In fact, some of the land-based casinos have their own social gaming presence on the Internet.
Live! Social Casino is tied to Maryland Live! Casino, and is the foremost Maryland social gaming site online. Players must be 21 to play at Live! Social Casino, but otherwise have a full slate of games to play: slots, table games, tournaments, the Loyalty Lounge player rewards program, and even a VIP lounge.
