While Maryland sports betting officially launched in December 2021 after being legalized earlier in the year, action has – until now – been limited exclusively to brick-and-mortar casinos.
But last week – just one day before Thanksgiving – several state-licensed sportsbooks finally went online.
Before, there were no online options, which – even taking MD’s small size into account – was a major shortcoming. More than any other kind of gambling, sports betting really hits its stride when offered over the Internet.
While online casino and online poker gambling are lots of fun, those gaming categories are more formal and “deliberate.” Traveling to a physical casino to play the slots or take your place at the felts doesn’t feel unnecessary or outdated, even in 2022.
But for sports betting – which is comparatively hyper-casual in nature – the lack of online options is a total dealbreaker for the majority of potential bettors.
And that’s been the case for years.
Sports bettors place their wagers at wildly different times during the course of a given week. Three bets tonight, five bets tomorrow, a dozen this weekend, a few futures for next month’s playoffs. You get the idea.
That kind of activity absolutely does not lend itself to the retail gambling experience.
If you’ve got to drive to your local casino every time you want to place a sports bet, the bottom line is that you’re not going to be placing very many sports bets.
Why Online Sports Betting Matters
Sports gambling is marathon gambling: It lasts all season long. Heck, it lasts all year long.
Imagine making fantasy sports players show up at some physical storefront 20 miles away to set their lines for all the day’s games, day after day after day. They wouldn’t do it! Well, sports betting works the exact same way and targets the exact same kinds of gamblers.
Frankly, now that half of the United States has legalized sports betting since the 2018 PASPA overturn, it’s downright asinine that some states still prioritize brick-and-mortar sportsbooks over online sportsbooks.
Yes, we know the rationale involved, that online sports betting would “cannibalize” casino profits at actual casino venues.
Sports betting, after all, is a small market compared to casino gambling. The idea here is that local casinos need the draw of sports betting to get people onto their gaming floors. Win a little on Monday Night Football, lose a lot on Monday Night Slots.
There’s some truth to that.
But there’s a lot more truth to this: Sports bettors and casino gamblers enjoy a very limited overlap.
Most people stick to one or the other, and nobody who wants to play casino games is going to only play them if they can also place some sports bets. And vice versa.
Ahead Of The Curve…
…But a swing and a miss.
Still, we’re glad to say that most states are finally figuring this out. Almost all new legislation today seems to target both in-person and online sports betting concurrently.
(Online gambling – or iGaming – is still a bridge too far for most states, including MD. Ditto for legal online poker.)
To Maryland’s credit, the state actually did legalize retail and Internet-based sports gambling at the same time. The delay in getting the online component off the ground has been more “red tape” in nature than anything else.
It took four months to get Maryland House Bill 940 hammered out, and it took MD Gov. Larry Hogan another five months to actually sign the thing. Then came the drawn-out application process for providers, and here we are.
Now, this general lack of urgency isn’t that unusual. But it’s nevertheless a little odd in MD’s case.
Most states that drag their feet getting online sports betting up and running do so as a result of trying to shoehorn some lesser-known platform’s operator into a partnership with the state’s lottery agency.
This is almost always a disaster (low bids are usually as catastrophic as no-bids), and it almost always causes significant delays.
We’ve seen just such cases in states like Oregon (OR finally launched something called Scoreboard, which is a subpar product despite its admittedly clever name) and regions like Washington DC (which has yet to wipe the egg off its face).
But the Maryland Lottery isn’t involved in this.
At least, not in the capacity of sports betting provider. While the Maryland State Lottery and Gaming Control Agency oversees the regulations policing the sports betting industry inside MD, that’s the extent of its involvement.
An Ace In The Hole
Maryland sports betting should have been a mundane formality instead of a year-long odyssey. It was on deck the moment the bill was signed into law!
Or, at least, it should have been.
See, Maryland actually allowed the biggest names in the industry to open their own online sportsbooks in the state.
This move should have expedited things across the board.
These companies already have online sports betting services and apps up and running in multiple other states. Further, as established businesses, they could easily be vetted in an afternoon for whatever licensing requirements the state put forth.
But despite all that, it still took an entire year.
So, was it worth the wait?
The More, The Merrier
The following brands – most of which you’re likely to recognize – comprise the state’s current slate of online sportsbooks:
- DraftKings Maryland Sportsbook
- Caesars Maryland Sportsbook
- BetMGM Maryland Sportsbook
- FanDuel Maryland Sportsbook
- PointsBet Maryland Sportsbook
- BetRivers Maryland Sportsbook
In addition to the above properties (which are all currently live), several others are awaiting approval of their applications. And many, many more could be on the way, too.
For some mysterious reason unknown to the whole of mankind, Maryland sports betting laws allow for a whopping 60 online sports betting licenses!
That means the full selection of domestic books won’t be realized for another year or two at least. And when they are, many of those books are likely to be truly local – 100% unknown upstarts born and bred in the Free State.
That should be interesting.
But it’s also irrelevant. With the operators already operating, you already know you can trust MD’s regulated sports betting product.
Are Maryland Sportsbooks Actually Better?
The real question is whether or not that MD sports betting product is actually better than the offshore sports betting product state residents have had access to for the last few decades.
Remember, MD laws never barred access to offshore sports betting sites, and they still don’t. As long as a sportsbook is located outside of MD and US borders, it remains legal to use.
Today, even as the legal sports betting age in Maryland is 21 and up, offshore books accept state residents at just 18 years old.
That alone is one major reason why offshore online betting remains a better and more accessible product that in-state online betting.
There are, of course, several other reasons why we prefer legal online gambling sites based outside of MD to those based inside of MD.
Offshore Sports Betting Advantages
In addition to having a lower minimum legal betting age, offshore sites aren’t limited to sports betting.
It’s going to be a long time before Maryland legalizes online casino gambling or online poker, but all the most reputable offshore gambling sites offer both of those markets under the same roof as to their sports betting lines.
For sports betting in particular, offshore books are superior in the number of daily bets available, the number of US and international sports leagues supported, and the fact that they can also post odds on things like television, movies, politics, current events, and similar fare.
But even if we limit ourselves just to the major sports that both domestic and international sportsbooks cover as a matter of course, the offshore options still provide a better overall product.
That’s because local Maryland sportsbooks are “geofenced.” In other words, to bet sports online in MD, you have to physically be in Maryland.
This matters for two reasons:
First, you can only bet if you’re inside the state. If you commute across state lines for work – or if you’re simply hitting the road on some well-deserved vacation – you won’t be able to bet until you’re back home.
Second (and much more pressingly), you’re going to experience major home team bias.
Any local favorites – whether they’re actually favorites or not – are going to get more action than they otherwise would. This “hometown skew” can shift the odds by 20-30 points, and often even more.
In practice, this means fewer people will bet against MD teams when they’re legitimate favorites, and more people will bet in favor of MD teams when they’re legitimate underdogs.
Consider: A -120 line on the favored Ravens might be -150 at MD-based sportsbooks, while a +140 line on the underdog Orioles might be +120.
But offshore, bets are taken from all across America, and the lines have no such hometown bias. These lines are a better – and often more valuable – representation of reality.
At the very least, if you plan to bet with a local online MD bookie, you should shop lines with sites like MyBookie Sportsbook to make sure you’re getting the most for your money.
Bitcoin Betting And Bonuses
Other areas in which offshore sportsbooks outshine domestic operators have to do with the financial side of things.
For one, offshore sports betting providers tend to have much better bonuses and promotions.
While domestic venues have occasional promos, their bonuses come with far more restrictive rollover terms. They usually also have bonus time limits of 2-4 weeks, which negatively impacts your sports betting free play options.
On the other hand, most offshore sites have lower wagering requirements and feature open-ended bonuses that don’t expire.
Lastly but by no means leastly, offshore sports betting sites support cryptocurrency for deposits and withdrawals. You can’t bet with Bitcoin at a local MD sportsbook venue, which means you could lose big in the long run – even when you win your bets!
All in all, we’re glad that legal Maryland online sports betting is finally live. These are good books, and they run some great betting apps.
But all the same, we’re sticking with the offshore sites we already know and love.