Maryland Sports Betting Bills

A Maryland bill prohibiting in-state colleges and universities from forming partnerships with sportsbook operators, including promotional sign-up incentives, passed through the House Ways and Means Committee last week. SB 620, which already cleared the Senate, could become law ahead of the Maryland Legislature’s April 10 adjournment. 

The bill has received minimal pushback from legislators and will still need to be approved on the House floor and signed by Gov. Wes Moore to become law. Should it be approved, the legislation is scheduled to take effect on July 1. 

Sen. Shelly Hettleman, the legislation’s sponsor, has said that the idea for the bill came regarding a controversial partnership between the University of Colorado and PointsBet. In that deal, PointsBet awarded Colorado financial incentives when customers signed up using a promotional link provided to the university.

However, PointsBet and the University of Colorado recently ended. As a result, the only Maryland college currently partnered with a mobile sportsbook operator is the University of Maryland, which has a relationship with PointsBet.

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The American Gaming Association, which isn’t a rulemaking body, recently shared guidelines that suggest universities avoid forming partnerships with sportsbook operators.  PointsBet doesn’t provide sign-up bonus incentives to the University of Maryland, so Hettleman’s legislation likely won’t have much impact on that particular arrangement. SB 620 would require details of partnerships between colleges and sportsbook operators to be public. And that could lead to greater transparency surrounding the PointsBet-University of Maryland deal. 

Another sports betting bill, SB 621, was recently discussed by the House Ways and Means Committee but wasn’t put to a vote. SB 621 would give the Maryland Lottery, the state’s sports wagering regulator, the ability to pick independent evaluators to audit sports betting content creators in the state. 

Chris Adams, CEO of SharpRank, said the bill aims to reduce the impact of shady touts in the industry. Evaluators would specifically look at in-house and affiliated handicappers for licensed sportsbooks in Maryland. 

While the idea is well-intentioned, it’s unclear if the bill solves a current problem. Maryland’s licensed sportsbooks aren’t working with shady tout services. And if they were, they can already be punished for that type of behavior by the Maryland Lottery. What’s more, the bill doesn’t even mandate that licensed sportsbooks need to partner with an organization like SharpRank for a handicapper audit, making the process optional

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