{"id":34410,"date":"2024-01-04T15:51:57","date_gmt":"2024-01-04T15:51:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cardschat.com\/?p=34410"},"modified":"2024-01-04T15:51:57","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T15:51:57","slug":"maryland-online-poker-bill-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/maryland-online-poker-bill-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Maryland Senator Ron Watson Makes Another Play to Legalize Online Poker"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Maryland residents may soon be able to play online poker<\/a> if a new bill being prepared by Senator Ron Watson (D-Bowie) makes it through the state\u2019s legislative system.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Maryland Senator Ron Watson (D-Bowie) is preparing another bill that would make online poker and casino gaming in his state. (Image: Facebook\/Sen. Ron Watson)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Watson has long been a supporter of online poker and casino gaming<\/a>. He submitted a similar bill for consideration in 2023 but couldn\u2019t get it passed by state lawmakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, with a voting session on the horizon, Senator Watson has drafted another bill that would make online poker and casino gaming legal in Maryland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watson revives Maryland online poker effort<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A draft copy of Watson\u2019s bill was shared with Poker Industry PRO on December 3. As reported, Watson is pushing to give the state\u2019s six land-based casinos the right to partner with two online gaming operators each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those wishing to apply for approval will need to pay a $1 million licensing fee as well as state taxes. In addition to authorizing online casino gaming for anyone within state lines aged 21 or over, Watson\u2019s bill would make online poker<\/a> legal in Maryland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That alone would be a big step forward for poker players in a state known for hosting major tournaments such as WPT Maryland at LIVE<\/a>! Perhaps even more significant than online poker being authorized is a clause that would make cross-state gaming possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As per the draft bill, the advent of legal online poker in Maryland would give Governor Wes Moore the authority to enter a multi-state gaming compact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[The bill] allows for participation in multi-jurisdictional internet gaming by individuals who are physically located in jurisdictions over which the governments that are a party to the agreement exercise legal authority<\/em>,\u201d reads the document.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In simple terms, this means poker players in Maryland would be allowed to compete against people in other states. Nevada<\/a>, New Jersey<\/a>, Michigan<\/a>, West Virginia, and Delaware<\/a> are currently part of the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Old Line state could spark new wave of online poker regulations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, Watson\u2019s bill has major implications for local players and the US online poker market in general. Although there\u2019s a long way to go until online poker<\/a> is freely available across the entire US, Maryland\u2019s entry to the regulated market would take the number of MSIGA participants to six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The total population of all six states in the MSIGA is 31 million. That\u2019s still a far cry from the 335 million people who live in the US<\/a>, but it\u2019s a markedly bigger pool of players than would be available if states were still ring-fenced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US online poker regulations have trickled in since Nevada kicked things off in 2013. Many assumed this initial move would cause a domino effect of states legalizing online poker. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That hasn\u2019t happened but, if Watson can get his next bill over the line, it would be a big win for Maryland poker players and another step forward for the industry as a whole.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maryland residents may soon be able to play online poker if a new bill being prepared by Senator Ron Watson (D-Bowie) makes it through the state\u2019s legislative system. Watson has long been a supporter of online poker and casino gaming. He submitted a similar bill for consideration in 2023 but couldn\u2019t get it passed by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":34411,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[507,499,497,515],"tags":[6992,643,6990,6994],"vertical":[69],"class_list":["post-34410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal","category-poker","category-news","category-online-poker","tag-maryland","tag-online-poker","tag-poker-regulation","tag-senator-ron-watson"],"lang":"en","translations":{"en":34410},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/ron-watson-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/ron-watson-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Daniel Smyth","author_link":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/author\/daniel-smyth\/"},"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34410"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=34410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}