- Laws in Maryland would prohibit on-line sweepstakes casinos
- On-line playing is unlawful in Maryland, however some unregulated sweepstakes proceed to function
Maryland lawmakers convene on Wednesday for his or her 2026 legislative session that runs by way of April 13. Two payments searching for to ban controversial on-line sweepstakes casinos within the Previous Line State have already been launched.
On-line sweepstakes casinos, corresponding to this screenshot, are being focused in Maryland. Laws seeks to outlaw the unlicensed, unregulated playing web sites that enable gamers to redeem their sweeps cash for money. (Picture: On line casino.org)
Home Invoice 295 and Senate Invoice 112 are cross-filed statutes with equivalent texts. The payments would prohibit all interactive on-line gaming from unlawful markets.
HB295/SB112 would explicitly ban sweepstakes casinos that use twin or a number of foreign money techniques of cost that enable gamers to “change the foreign money for any prize or award or money or money equal.”
The payments come on the request of Gov. Wes Moore (D), who heeded calls from the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Management Fee for the legislature to outlaw sweepstakes casinos. The state gaming regulator says that whereas many outstanding sweepstakes casinos, together with Chumba, Stake, and Modo, have adhered to stop and desist orders, many others haven’t. With sweepstakes casinos regularly popping up, the state lottery and gaming governor says a legislation banning the companies is required.
Twin-Forex Casinos
Sweepstakes casinos, represented by the Social Gaming Management Alliance, declare they function free-to-play social gaming web sites and apps. Gamers are afforded free “gold” cash, credit that may’t be redeemed for cash.
The social gaming elements of sweepstakes casinos certainly enable gamers to play constantly with out making a monetary deposit. Nonetheless, the providing of a second digital foreign money, usually known as sweeps cash, permits gamers to play for actual cash. To entice gamers to toggle from social to actual cash play, the sweepstakes web sites usually give a few sweeps cash to the participant’s account.
Additional sweeps cash have to be bought, with every sweeps coin matching greenback for greenback. Sweepstakes casinos declare sweeps cash can’t be cashed out within the conventional playing sense, however solely “redeemed” for money prizes. The element permits the platforms to say that they’re operating sweepstakes promotions not not like how CVS ran a flu shot promotion earlier this 12 months that gave clients an opportunity to win varied prizes.
State attorneys normal, lawmakers, and gaming regulators have overwhelmingly disagreed with the sweepstakes on line casino trade’s claims that they aren’t violating on-line playing guidelines. The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Management Fee is one such company.
“These choices include the weather of gaming: consideration, probability, and prize. In different phrases, it’s gaming,” Michael Eaton, managing director of gaming on the state company, wrote to Chumba in November 2025.
“Beneath Maryland legislation, gaming is unlawful except it’s expressly licensed. The gaming that’s being supplied by way of your web site isn’t legally licensed in Maryland,” Eaton suggested.
Proposed Penalties
The Maryland payments to ban sweepstakes casinos suggest codifying harsh penalties for violators.
An individual discovered responsible of violating Maryland’s sweepstakes and/or unlawful on-line playing ban can be topic to a misdemeanor and an imprisonment time period of as much as three years. The responsible particular person may additionally face fines starting from $10K to $100K per incident.
