The Maryland Sports Wagering Application Review Commission will meet Wednesday to award mobile sports betting licenses, its officials announced Monday. The SWARC moved up a meeting date that had been planned for next week.
“We had originally planned our next meeting to be November 21, but we’ve been working with our consultants from Taft Stettinius & Hollister and Spectrum Gaming Group to accelerate the pace and hold it earlier,” SWARC Chairman Thomas Brandt said in a press release. “We thank them for their diligence and professionalism through this process.”
The earlier meeting date also changes the likely launch date of mobile sportsbooks in the state. Previously, it was expected that mobile sports wagering platforms would launch in Maryland in early December. A November launch now seems likely.
Ten operators could win approval
At Wednesday’s meeting, the SWARC will consider 10 mobile sports wagering applicants:
- Barstool Sportsbook
- Betfred
- BetMGM
- betPARX
- BetRivers
- Caesars Sportsbook
- DraftKings
- Fanatics
- FanDuel
- PointsBet
Those 10 operators were deemed qualified by the Maryland Lottery in late October.
“Our focus for this meeting will be the mobile applicants who have been qualified by MLGCC,” Brandt said. “We will have additional award consideration meetings as SWARC and our advisors continue to review applications, and our next scheduled meeting is December 14.”
Should they be awarded licenses, they operators then need to go through controlled demonstrations with the Maryland Lottery. That consists of going online one day and offline the next while the lottery checks to make sure everything with the sportsbook went smoothly.
Maryland mobile sports betting timeline:
Nov. 16 – SWARC awards mobile licenses
Soon after/TBA: A mobile wagering launch
Could there be mobile sportsbooks live in Maryland a week from today?
— Bennett Conlin (@BennettConlin) November 14, 2022
That process may take a few days, but the digital sportsbooks should be ready for permanent operations soon thereafter.
“Mobile wagering will account for the bulk of the revenue from sports wagering, and we’re eager to enable Maryland to enter that market,” Brandt said.
