Maryland Sweepstakes Casino Ban Stalls as 2026 Session Ends

Maryland’s effort to ban sweepstakes casinos ran out of time this year after two House-backed bills failed to make it through the Senate before the legislature adjourned on April 13. This is important because both measures had already cleared the House by wide margins and would have expanded the state’s power to target dual-currency sweepstakes operators.

The two bills were House Bill 295 and House Bill 1226. HB 295 would have banned online platforms that simulate gambling and use “multiple currency systems of payment,” while HB 1226 would have explicitly defined sweepstakes casinos as illegal gambling and broadened liability to include not just operators, but also affiliates and service providers. Neither bill made it out of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee before the session ended.

The outcome marks a reversal from last year, when a sweepstakes ban cleared the Senate but stalled in the House. This time, the House moved first, but the Senate never finished the job.

What This Means

• HB 295 passed the House on March 20 by a 105-24 vote.
• HB 1226 passed the House on March 23 by a 134-2 vote.
• Neither bill cleared the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee before adjournment.
• Maryland’s 2026 legislative session ended on April 13.
• For now, Maryland has not enacted a new legislative ban on sweepstakes casinos in 2026.

HB 295 had strong backing from the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency and from Governor Wes Moore, suggesting it had serious political support. The regulator had argued that a legislative fix was needed because many sites that received cease-and-desist orders did not comply.

HB 1226 would have taken a sharper enforcement route. Titled the Maryland Illegal Online Gambling Enforcement Act, it would have given the regulator and the attorney general broader authority to issue cease-and-desist letters, pursue injunctions, and impose civil and criminal penalties on illegal operations and service providers.

Why This Matters

Even though the bills failed, Maryland still showed how much pressure dual-currency sweepstakes models are facing in state legislatures, especially after the House had already passed two sweepstakes casino bills earlier in the session. These were not fringe proposals with no momentum. Both bills passed the House comfortably, and one had direct support from the state regulator.

That matters for the wider sweepstakes casino market because Maryland was considering both a broad multi-currency ban and a more aggressive enforcement model in the same session. In other words, the state was not debating whether to act, but how far to go. That kind of legislative posture still sends a clear signal to operators, even without a final bill becoming law.

The result also gives the Social Gaming Leadership Alliance a talking point heading into 2027. After the bills died, the group said lawmakers had taken time to consider its arguments. It said it wants to work with legislators and regulators next year on best practices for the broader social games industry.

Growing Pressure on Sweepstakes Casinos

Maryland’s failure to pass a ban does not mean the broader trend has cooled because Indiana has already enacted a ban on multi-currency sweepstakes games that resemble gambling, effective July 1, while Maine also signed legislation this month banning online sweepstakes gaming.

Other states are still moving. Louisiana’s House has already advanced bills targeting sweepstakes casinos, including one that would connect sweepstakes-style activity to racketeering exposure. That makes Maryland more of a pause than a reversal in the wider state-by-state crackdown.

What Happens Next

For Maryland, the immediate next step is nothing at all on these two bills. The 2026 session is over, and both measures are effectively dead for the year. Any renewed push would need to come in a future session, likely in 2027.

That leaves open two possibilities. Lawmakers could return with another attempt to ban dual-currency sweepstakes casinos directly, or they could pursue a more targeted enforcement bill like HB 1226. Either way, the issue is clearly not gone. Maryland simply ran out of calendar before it ran out of interest. This is an inference based on the bills’ House passage and regulator backing.

References

Maryland Gaming Control Agency