There’s no chance of an online gaming bill being voted on in 2025 and this year’s effort has failed
The Maryland House had passed HB1319, which includes internet gaming in its proposed budget. However, the Maryland legislative session ended on Monday, with the Senate choosing not to move forward with online casinos this year. As such, it will be at least two more years before the topic might surface again.
In Maryland, legalizing online casinos must be approved by a general election voter referendum. The next chance to get the issue before voters is in 2026, so it doesn’t matter if lawmakers approve iGaming legislation in 2025 or 2026.
Senator Ron Watson introduced the iCasino bill in 2023, hoping to debate the legislation and have it passed before the 2024 election. After many discussions in both the House and Senate this year, Watson thinks another year of debate on Maryland iGaming legislation won’t matter.
“We’ve done our due diligence,” he told PlayUSA. “We understand the revenues and the challenges. I think we could all use a break. We don’t need to waste a lot of time not undertaking iGaming. We’ll give it time to marinate and hopefully have an even stronger bill the next time it is introduced.”
Maryland may not see any online casino bill introduced this year as Delegate Vanessa Atterbeary, sponsor of the House bill, and others in the Maryland legislature have decided to push for it in 2026 instead.
Watson is hopeful that Maryland can pass online casino legalization in 2026.
“I have no doubt that a lot of my colleagues understand that the modernization of iGaming is going to happen sooner rather than later. So it’s something we have to get a grip on and understand this is a vital revenue stream that continues to remain untapped in the state of Maryland.”
