Maryland governor wants mobile sports betting in time for NFL

Maryland governor Larry Hogan has complained about the delay and says he wants mobile sports gambling to be up and running by September.

US.- Maryland governor Larry Hogan, is getting impatient with the state regulators tasked with issuing licences for the online sports betting industry. Hogan has urged the state’s Sports Wagering Application Review Commission (SWARC) to “immediately accelerate and intensify” their work to have mobile sports gambling to be up and running by September, in time for the NFL season. 

Hogan signed a bill to legalise both online and retail sports betting in Maryland last year, after voters approved sports betting through a November 2020 referendum. Retail betting has been available for six months, but online sports betting has not yet launched.

“Instead of decisive action to implement the voters’ decision, you have allowed the progress to stagnate and become mired in overly bureaucratic procedures that have needlessly delayed the state’s ability to maximize the revenue potential of this growing industry,” wrote Maryland governor in a letter released to the media.

Ahead of SWARC’s next meeting on Thursday, Hogan called on the committee to prioritise mobile betting licences and establish a “firm and transparent timeline”.

“Sports fans in Maryland simply want to be able to place bets on their mobile devices — that’s what they voted for, and they are angry and discouraged over SWARC’s inability to make it happen,” he wrote. “Our state and its citizens deserve clear and definitive action from SWARC and a legal, transparent framework to place mobile bets — not endless bureaucratic roadblocks that continue to hold back progress.”

“Marylanders have grown frustrated waiting for mobile sports wagering as they have watched it become available in state after state across the country, including our neighboring jurisdictions of Delaware, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia and Washington DC,” Hogan added.

See also: Maryland sports betting handle reaches $16.5m during first month of operations