Maryland governor slams “inexcusable” sports betting rollout delay

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has penned an explosive two-page letter decrying the delays in launching sports betting in the Free State.

Hogan took aim at the Sports Wagering Application Review Commission (SWARC) over its year-long delay in launching legal sports betting, despite the fact he, acting as governor of the state, signed enabling legislation into law in 2021.

Expressing the frustration of Maryland residents over the delay, Hogan slammed the SWARC for allowing the process to stagnate and become mired in “overly bureaucratic procedures” which have stopped the state from collecting tax revenue from the sector.

“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,” Hogan wrote.

“I realize that this ongoing delay is the by-product of an overly complex piece of legislation that was skewed to appease special interest groups and organizations.”

Hogan continued: “The rest of the holdup lies with bureaucratic hurdles and legal obstacles placed by the Office of the Attorney General.

“While much work is ostensibly “in progress”, SWARC has still not defined a clear pathway or timeline for mobile sports wagering implementation – it is simply inexcusable for that to be the case more than a year after the bill was signed into law,” he added.

The governor suggested that the delay, while also depriving the state of revenue, was forcing many Marylanders out of the state to place their bets, a delay which could be rectified by the prioritization of license awards.

In order to redress this issue, Hogan calls for SWARC to enact a firm and transparent timeline, release a draft of all applications and regulations and adopt the same speedy approach used in casino licensing.

The governor urges that the process be completed by the start of the next NFL regular season on September 8, 2022.

In addition, Hogan has suggested SWARC approve all sports betting applications on a first come, first served, rolling basis.

“The mobile sports wagering marketplace is extremely capital-intensive and highly competitive (high risk, low-margin) and dominated by only a few companies.

“Setting up an arbitrary points system or setting unachievable minority equity ownership goals will likely only hurt those entities you are trying to help.

“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,” Hogan concluded.