Maryland’s Legal Gambling Options — and What to Watch For

Maryland has one of the more varied legal gambling environments on the East Coast. Residents and visitors can place sports bets on their phones, sit at slot machines in a casino, buy lottery tickets at a gas station, or wager on horse races at a track — sometimes all in the same day. That variety is worth understanding clearly, both for those who gamble recreationally and for anyone who suspects gambling may be causing harm.

This page covers the legal gambling platforms available in Maryland, how each one works, and what signs suggest that gambling has moved from entertainment to something more serious. If you or someone you care about is already struggling, confidential support is available right now through the 24/7 Gambling Addiction Hotline. You don’t need to be in crisis to call — questions, concerns, and conversations are all welcome.

The Legal Framework Behind Maryland Gambling

Maryland gambling law is governed primarily by Maryland Code, Criminal Law Title 12, which defines what constitutes legal and illegal gambling activity in the state. The law distinguishes between state-authorized gambling — casinos, the lottery, licensed sports betting, and pari-mutuel wagering — and unlicensed or informal gambling operations, which remain prohibited.

The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency oversees licensing and regulation. This oversight means that legal platforms are required to follow specific rules around age verification, responsible gambling disclosures, and self-exclusion programs. Those protections exist for a reason. Problem gambling affects an estimated 2–3% of Americans, and regulated platforms are required by law to offer pathways out for people who need them.

Understanding the legal structure matters for one practical reason: if you’re gambling on an unlicensed platform — an offshore website, an informal betting pool, or an app not authorized in Maryland — you have fewer protections and no formal recourse if something goes wrong. Stick to licensed platforms if you choose to gamble, and know that even licensed platforms carry real financial and psychological risk.

Casinos Operating in Maryland

Maryland currently has six licensed casinos operating across the state. Each offers a mix of slot machines, table games, and in some cases poker rooms. The facilities range from large destination resorts to smaller gaming venues.

• MGM National Harbor — Located in Prince George’s County near Washington, D.C., this is Maryland’s largest casino by revenue and offers a full range of table games, slots, and a poker room.
• Live! Casino & Hotel Maryland — Situated in Hanover, this property includes one of the largest poker rooms on the East Coast and a full slate of table games and electronic gaming.
• Horseshoe Casino Baltimore — Located in downtown Baltimore, offering slots, table games, and a poker room.
• Hollywood Casino Perryville — A smaller property in Cecil County, primarily slots-focused with some table games.

Rocky Gap Casino Resort in Allegany County and Ocean Downs Casino on the Eastern Shore round out the six. Each of these facilities is required to post responsible gambling information and provide access to self-exclusion programs. If you’ve ever walked through a casino and felt the pull to keep going long after you planned to stop, that feeling has a name — and it’s something worth paying attention to.

Sports Betting in Maryland

Maryland legalized retail sports betting in December 2021 and mobile sports betting in November 2022. Today, residents 21 and older can place bets through a growing number of licensed mobile apps, as well as at retail sportsbooks located inside casinos and at certain other venues.

Licensed mobile sports betting operators in Maryland include major national platforms that have received state approval. These apps allow users to bet on professional and college sports, including football, basketball, baseball, hockey, and more. Live in-game betting — placing wagers while a game is actively being played — is also available on most platforms.

Mobile sports betting deserves particular attention from a problem gambling standpoint. The convenience of betting from a phone, at any hour, with no travel required, removes many of the natural friction points that once limited how much someone could wager. Research consistently shows that ease of access is associated with higher rates of problem gambling. If sports betting has become something you think about constantly, or if losses have led you to bet more to try to recover, those are patterns worth examining honestly.

What Responsible Sports Betting Looks Like

Licensed Maryland sportsbooks are required to offer tools including deposit limits, time-out features, and self-exclusion options. Using these tools proactively — before gambling becomes a problem — is genuinely useful. Setting a weekly deposit limit when you first create an account, for example, creates a structural boundary that doesn’t depend on willpower in the moment.

If those limits feel impossible to set, or if you’ve already tried to limit yourself and found you couldn’t stick to it, that’s important information. Reach out to the gambling addiction hotline for a confidential conversation with someone who understands what you’re going through.

The Maryland Lottery

The Maryland Lottery is one of the oldest and most accessible forms of legal gambling in the state. Scratch-off tickets, draw games like Powerball and Mega Millions, Keno, and Pick games are sold at thousands of retail locations statewide. Players can also check results and manage accounts online through the official lottery website.

Lottery gambling is often perceived as low-stakes, and for many people it is. But scratch-off tickets in particular can become a compulsive behavior for some individuals. The instant feedback loop — scratch, reveal, win or lose, buy another — activates the same reward pathways that other forms of gambling do. Some people spend far more on lottery tickets each week than they recognize, often because individual purchases feel small.

One practical exercise: add up your lottery spending for the past month. If the number surprises you, or if you find yourself buying tickets to cope with stress or negative emotions, those are worth noting.

Horse Racing and Pari-Mutuel Wagering

Maryland has a long history with horse racing. Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore — home of the Preakness Stakes — and Laurel Park are the state’s two primary thoroughbred racing venues. Off-track betting facilities allow wagering on races from tracks across the country, and advance deposit wagering (ADW) platforms let Maryland residents bet on horse races online.

Pari-mutuel wagering operates differently from casino games or sports betting. Bettors compete against each other rather than the house, with the track taking a percentage of the pool. This structure doesn’t make it safer from a problem gambling perspective — the thrill of handicapping races and the availability of ADW platforms create the same risks as other forms of gambling.

Online Gambling: What’s Legal and What Isn’t

Maryland does not currently authorize online casino games (sometimes called iGaming). This means that playing online slots, blackjack, roulette, or poker through a website or app for real money is not legal in Maryland, even if the platform is based offshore and technically accessible from a Maryland device.

This distinction matters for several reasons. First, offshore platforms operate without Maryland’s consumer protections — no self-exclusion programs, no deposit limits enforced by state law, no accountability. Second, people who develop gambling problems on unregulated platforms often find it harder to access help because there’s no formal system tracking their activity or offering intervention tools.

If you’ve been gambling on offshore casino sites or unregulated apps, you’re not alone — and you’re not in trouble for reading this. But understanding that those platforms carry additional risk is part of making informed decisions. The platform-specific gambling help resources on this site can help you understand the particular risks associated with different types of online gambling.

Daily Fantasy Sports

Daily fantasy sports (DFS) platforms like DraftKings and FanDuel operate legally in Maryland under a separate regulatory framework from sports betting. Players pay an entry fee, draft a lineup of real athletes, and compete based on those athletes’ statistical performance. Prizes are paid out to top finishers.

DFS occupies a legal gray area in many states, but Maryland has explicitly authorized it. From a behavioral standpoint, DFS shares significant overlap with sports betting — it involves skill combined with chance, financial stakes, and the emotional highs and lows of winning and losing. For some people, DFS serves as a gateway into more intensive gambling. For others, it remains a contained hobby. Knowing which category applies to you requires honest self-reflection.

Recognizing When Gambling Becomes a Problem

Problem gambling doesn’t always look like losing everything at once. More often, it develops gradually — a pattern of spending more than intended, chasing losses, hiding gambling from family members, or continuing to gamble despite clear negative consequences. The platform doesn’t determine whether gambling is problematic; the relationship with gambling does.

Several questions can help clarify whether gambling has become a concern:

• Have you tried to cut back on gambling and found it harder than expected?
• Do you gamble to escape stress, anxiety, depression, or boredom?
• Have you borrowed money, sold possessions, or used funds meant for bills to gamble?
• Has gambling caused conflict with family members or affected your work?

Answering yes to any of these doesn’t mean you have a gambling disorder — but it does mean the pattern is worth examining with someone who can help. Problem gambling is a recognized condition, and effective treatment exists. According to research on problem gambling treatment, people who seek help see meaningful improvements in their gambling behavior and overall quality of life.

The Difference Between Recreational and Problem Gambling

Recreational gambling has clear limits — a set amount of money, a defined time, and the ability to walk away without distress when either runs out. Problem gambling erodes those limits. The defining characteristic isn’t how much money is lost; it’s the loss of control over the behavior itself.

Someone who spends $500 at a casino once a year and genuinely enjoys the experience is in a very different situation from someone who spends $50 a week on lottery tickets and feels anxious and irritable on days they can’t buy one. The dollar amount is less important than the pattern and the impact on daily life.

Support for Family Members and Loved Ones

Problem gambling rarely affects only the person gambling. Family members often absorb significant financial, emotional, and relational consequences — sometimes without fully understanding what’s happening. If you’ve noticed a loved one becoming secretive about money, spending unusual amounts of time gambling, or becoming irritable and defensive when gambling comes up, those patterns are worth taking seriously.

You don’t need to have all the answers before reaching out for support. The 24/7 Gambling Addiction Hotline is available to family members and loved ones, not just to people who are gambling. Talking to someone who understands the dynamics of problem gambling can help you figure out how to approach the situation, set boundaries, and take care of your own wellbeing in the process.

It’s also worth knowing that you cannot force someone to stop gambling. What you can do is understand the situation more clearly, protect yourself and your household financially, and be prepared to offer support when your loved one is ready to accept it. Coercive approaches rarely work and often damage the relationship that might otherwise serve as a source of motivation for change.

Financial Impacts on Families

The financial consequences of problem gambling can be severe and move quickly. Joint accounts can be drained, credit cards maxed out, and home equity borrowed against — sometimes before a partner or spouse is aware anything is wrong. If you have concerns about shared finances, consulting with a financial counselor or attorney about protective steps is a reasonable precaution, separate from any conversation about the gambling itself.

Many families in this situation feel ashamed or reluctant to seek outside help. That reluctance is understandable but often works against recovery. The more isolated a family becomes around a gambling problem, the harder it typically is to address.

Maryland-Specific Resources and Self-Exclusion

Maryland’s licensed gambling operators are required to participate in the state’s voluntary self-exclusion program. This program allows individuals to formally ban themselves from Maryland casinos and, in some cases, online betting platforms. Once enrolled, a person’s name and photo are added to a database, and operators are required to deny them entry or account access.

Self-exclusion is not a perfect solution — it requires willpower to avoid excluded venues and doesn’t address the underlying behavioral patterns — but it’s a meaningful structural tool that removes access during a period of recovery. Combining self-exclusion with professional counseling or a support program tends to produce better outcomes than either approach alone.

For state-specific information about Maryland’s self-exclusion program, treatment providers, and local support options, the state-specific gambling resources directory on this site includes detailed information organized by state. Maryland residents can find local treatment referrals, outpatient programs, and peer support options through that directory.

Treatment Options That Work

Effective treatment for problem gambling exists in several forms, and the right approach depends on the individual. Some people respond well to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which helps identify and change the thought patterns that drive compulsive gambling. Others benefit from motivational interviewing, which helps clarify personal values and build internal motivation for change. Medication can play a role in some cases, particularly when gambling disorder co-occurs with depression, anxiety, or substance use.

Peer support — connecting with others who have experienced problem gambling — is another component that many people find valuable. Hearing from someone who has been through the same experience and come out the other side carries a different kind of weight than information alone.

Treatment doesn’t require hitting a dramatic low point first. The earlier someone seeks help, the less damage typically accumulates. If you’re reading this page and wondering whether your gambling is becoming a problem, that curiosity itself is a reasonable prompt to talk to someone.

What to Expect When You Call

Calling a gambling helpline for the first time can feel uncertain. You might not know what to say, or you might worry about being judged. The conversation is confidential — nothing you share is reported to employers, family members, or anyone else. The person on the other end of the line is there to listen, ask questions, and help you think through your options.

You won’t be pressured into any particular course of action. The goal of the call is to help you get clearer on your situation and understand what kinds of support are available. Some people call once and find that conversation gives them what they need. Others call regularly over a period of weeks or months. Both are fine.

Taking the Next Step — On Your Terms

Maryland offers legal gambling in many forms, and most people who gamble do so without developing a serious problem. But for those who do — and for the families around them — the consequences can be significant and fast-moving. Recognizing the signs early, understanding what resources exist, and being willing to ask for help are the most important things anyone can do.

You are not alone in this. Thousands of people across Maryland and the country have navigated this exact situation and found their way to a more stable place. Help is available right now, any time of day or night. If you’re ready to talk — or just ready to listen — reach out to the 24/7 Gambling Addiction Hotline and speak with someone who can help you figure out what comes next.

For additional educational content on problem gambling, recovery strategies, and how to support someone you care about, explore the educational resources and recovery tools available on this site. Information is a starting point — but a conversation is where real support begins.