Online Casino Bills Fail to Advance in Three US States
As online gambling is thrust further into the mainstream, efforts across the country to regulate iGaming hit a setback as three separate bills failed to advance through their respective legislative bodies.
State lawmakers in Massachusetts, Maryland and Virginia have pushed bills in this year's legislative sessions that would regulate iGaming. But none of those efforts materialized into legislation signed into law, Casino Reports reported.
No Online Gambling Movement This Year in Three States
In Massachusetts, where online gambling is illegal but online sports betting is allowed, a bill sponsored by Rep. David Muradian to regulate iGaming failed to advance, though Mudrian said he plans to refile the bill in 2027, according to Casino Reports.
There's a separate bill being considered in the senate that would make changes to Massachusetts sports betting industry, including raising the tax and prohibiting proposition bets.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in Maryland, where there is legal online gaming, were considering two bills that, if passed, would have let voters decide into November wether to expand commercial gaming to include online casinos, according to Action Network. Both bills failed to advance with the end of the Maryland legislative session just days away.
And down in Virginia, another state where online gambling is illegal, several efforts to address gaming, including one to legalize online poker, were doomed by infighting among lawmakers, according to GamingAmerica. The outlet reported that both the Senate and House of Representatives have proven willing to pass a bill, but that, in each case, "the two chambers passed different versions of the proposed legislation and have been making slow progress in reconciling those differences."
As PlayUSA reported, "the immediate effect is continued reliance on existing retail casinos and sportsbooks instead of regulated online casinos, meaning no new in-state iCasino apps, games, or local promotions for the near term." Meanwhile, operators lose potential new revenue streams.
