Chris Boline
People who love Maryland sports betting are sitting on pins and needles to get some sort of an update on the mobile options for later this year. As things stand, people can’t make bets through their online outlets, as they can only do so in person at allowed in-person sportsbooks. With that said, Maryland pushing for online sports betting for football season continues to be a big topic of conversation.
When it comes to the NFL and college football, there’s simply no denying that it’s the best time of the year for betting. People are always going to check out the NFL odds, and the ones for NCAA Football, to get their wagers in. This will be the case in Maryland, but for now, people can only make that happen in person. That might change come September, though.
“Football tends to attract more wagering than other sports, and beyond that, the real revenue potential is in mobile,” Gaming Director John Martin told Saturday Tradition. “When the market is fully launched, including mobile, our back-of-the-envelope estimate is that sports wagering will contribute roughly $30 million a year to Maryland, and we expect about 90% of that will come from mobile.”
As you can see from that quote from Martin, he knows just how important online betting is for the state. It’s going to create a major amount of revenue across the board. Only time will tell if things arrive in time for the start of football season, but there’s plenty of optimism here. Should online betting go down for the NFL and college football, millions of dollars will surely be exchanged all over Maryland.
The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency director is hopeful that Maryland online sports betting can launch sometime during the next football season.
College football starts in late August. The Super Bowl is in February. That's a big launch windowhttps://t.co/NvHVKxwBat
— RLinnehanXL (@RLinnehanXl) June 14, 2022
Maryland simply must implement online betting for the football season
As we’ve stated time and time again, Maryland simply must implement online betting for the football season this fall. They are leaving millions of dollars on the table and Martin’s quote shows the importance of getting things done as soon as possible. For people in Maryland, they’re always going to have high interest in the Washington Commanders.
For the Commanders, they’re entering the season with high expectations, especially after they traded for quarterback Carson Wentz. Wentz may have struggled last year with the Indianapolis Colts, but he’s ready to get his career back on track with the Commanders. Wentz is a former first-round pick and he wants to silence all of his haters.
With so much intrigue surrounding Washington in the NFC East, people are going to be betting a lot of money on them. In other states where online betting is legal, they’ll surely be betting on the NFL not only for futures picks, but for weekly contests too. People in Maryland would love to be able to do this, but things are on hold.
This is also going to be the case for the college football season too. Teams like Alabama, Ohio State and more have high NCAAF odds and loads of money will be exchanged for those teams too. Maryland citizens want to be able to bet on them via an online app this fall, starting in September. We have to wait and see if officials make things happen and allow for it to happen in the coming months.
Minicamp vibes 🕺 @BrianR_4 | #HTTC pic.twitter.com/nZowZWLmeK
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) June 14, 2022
Online betting may be delayed to early 2023
What’s concerning here, though, is that online betting may be delayed to early 2023. If that were to happen and things don’t get finalized until January of the new year, then the majority of the football season will come and go without online betting to happen. We don’t have to tell you how big of a bummer this would be across the board, as it’s the last thing that people want to see.
With that potential January start date, it means that the entire college football season would basically come and go without any mobile bets allowed to be made. However, there’d still be the National Championship Game for people to take a look at for online betting. As for the NFL, it’d mark the start of the NFL playoffs, which would result in a lot of bets, especially with the Super Bowl betting too close too.
That would definitely be exciting for people in Maryland, but they want to be able to get things done starting Week 1. There’s loads of great games on the schedule for the opening weekend. This includes Opening Night between the Bills and Rams. People are already betting big on that matchup, with the Bills expected to come away with a close win. Millions of people will be watching this one.
With that said, millions of people will also be betting on this game as well. If you’re in Maryland, there’s a chance you won’t be able to do so from your mobile outlet. Instead, you’ll have to drop to an authorized sportsbook to place your bet. Only time will tell if something happens and that changes, but no one knows what will go down. Keep your fingers crossed here, folks.
