Is Online Gambling Legal In Maryland?

For those players who wish to sit around at home and have a sports wager online in the state of Maryland, maybe having a questions over the legalities of the practice. Online Internet betting in the United States can be an overwhelmingly complicated issue, so here we will try to explain in simple terms about the relative safety of players getting into the activity in Maryland and across the United States.

This question arises quite a bit, because established Nevada gaming operator Bovada has players from Maryland as well as Washington on their 'blacklist.' Meaning, the while old accounts will still be honored, they will accept no new players from the states. So why, of all the contiguous states in America, is Maryland one of the more unique cases? There are several laws in place such as the 1961 Wire Act which targets online gaming operations. The good news however, is that the laws which do exist to try and prohibit online gambling, are targeted only at the operators among the players. That is an across-the-board generalization which will serve players well, because there exists no specific laws prohibiting the act of online gambling from the client side, so there is unlikely to ever be any prosecution of individuals.

Maryland simply never initialized the legalization of online gambling, because of the state's own confusion over whether it is legal or not. The official explanation given to Maryland players who were told that their accounts will be closed by Bovada, was that the operator had difficulty maintaining acceptable payment options. Again this can be finger-pointed to federal level laws which target online transactions for operators receiving funds for the purpose of gambling. But the important thing here is that Maryland players like anyone else since United States could still hop on an Internet gambling site which accepts them, and still go about their gambling business safely and securely. There are still no law in Maryland specifically prohibiting online gambling.

So the general consensus to this next question is that yes it is safe to gamble online in the United States. Players may well get a bit overwhelmed by rumors of federal legislation which are floating around for legal Maryland gambling, like the Wire Act and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. Players sat at home should not be concerned about these things, because no individual has ever been prosecuted for betting online, because as stated, the laws target operators and not players. The main gray area here is over the physical location of someone. You could be sat in Maryland and be placing a bet at an online operator outside of the state. So are you physically located in that external state to fall under any jurisdictions? Not really, you are safe to proceed.

While BetOnline is out of the picture for Maryland players, it shouldn't stop you too much, because there are also some reputable and trusted sites at which to play online poker, casino games for real cash, or even betting sports online. Below are some of our favorites for Maryland residents and all will be welcome to join.