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Maryland’s legislative session ended this week without a ban on Sweepstakes Casinos making it all the way through the General Assembly.
Although the state House of Delegates passed two separate bills in 2026 that would have outlawed dual-currency sweepstakes, neither of those measures (House Bill 295 and House Bill 1226) made it out of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee. That was in effect the reverse of what happened last year, when a sweeps ban passed the Senate but stalled in the House.
Maryland’s 2026 legislative session ended on Monday night, April 13.
MLGCA Director John Martin said at a hearing for its Senate counterpart that the regulator needed sweeps to be banned via legislation because although the agency had sent dozens of cease-and-desist orders to sites it deemed to be in contravention of state gambling laws, around two-thirds of recipients did not comply.
HB 1226 proposed explicitly defining and naming Sweepstakes Casinos as a category of products and adding them to the state’s definition of illegal gambling. Titled the ‘Maryland Illegal Online Gambling Enforcement Act’, it would not only have made it illegal to operate those platforms but also to promote, supply services to or affiliate with them.
It would have taken a different approach to HB 295 by giving the MLGCA and the state Attorney General greater powers to issue C&Ds and injunctions and impose civil and criminal penalties on illegal operations and service providers.
HB 295 passed the House on March 20 by a 105-24 vote and HB 1226 passed the House by a 134-2 vote just before the crossover deadline on March 23, but both ultimately fizzled out.
Maryland’s legislative session ended this week without a ban on Sweepstakes Casinos making it all the way through the General Assembly.
Although the state House of Delegates passed two separate bills in 2026 that would have outlawed dual-currency sweepstakes, neither of those measures (House Bill 295 and House Bill 1226) made it out of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee. That was in effect the reverse of what happened last year, when a sweeps ban passed the Senate but stalled in the House.
Maryland’s 2026 legislative session ended on Monday night, April 13.
Maryland regulator, governor backed idea of legislative ban
HB 295 was sponsored by the House Ways and Means Committee at the request of the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency (MLGCA) and was backed by Gov. Wes Moore, suggesting that he would have signed it if it had come across his desk. That bill would have banned online platforms that simulate gambling and utilize “multiple currency systems of payment”.MLGCA Director John Martin said at a hearing for its Senate counterpart that the regulator needed sweeps to be banned via legislation because although the agency had sent dozens of cease-and-desist orders to sites it deemed to be in contravention of state gambling laws, around two-thirds of recipients did not comply.
HB 1226 proposed explicitly defining and naming Sweepstakes Casinos as a category of products and adding them to the state’s definition of illegal gambling. Titled the ‘Maryland Illegal Online Gambling Enforcement Act’, it would not only have made it illegal to operate those platforms but also to promote, supply services to or affiliate with them.
It would have taken a different approach to HB 295 by giving the MLGCA and the state Attorney General greater powers to issue C&Ds and injunctions and impose civil and criminal penalties on illegal operations and service providers.
HB 295 passed the House on March 20 by a 105-24 vote and HB 1226 passed the House by a 134-2 vote just before the crossover deadline on March 23, but both ultimately fizzled out.
