“And now they can finally do it right at home.” (R) after cutting the ribbon at the BetMGM Sportsbook. “People have been betting in our neighboring states and in other places,” said Gov. Finally, earlier this year, lawmakers approved a gambling framework that initially favors casinos, professional sports stadiums and racing facilities. The General Assembly decided to let voters decide the issue at referendum in 2020, and they said yes by a margin of 2-to-1. Maryland took its sweet time getting to this moment.Īlthough many states - notably New Jersey - moved quickly in the wake of a 2018 Supreme Court decision that stripped Nevada of its sports betting monopoly, Maryland opted for a cautious approach. Giant screens displaying rows of green and white numbers describe the hundreds of possible bets that can be placed on all manner of sporting events, from pro football to mixed marital arts and everything in between.

They held a ribbon-cutting to mark the opening of their Maryland sportsbook on the resort’s main level, not far from poker tables and jingling slots machines that were doing a surprisingly brisk business on a weekday.Ĭasino sportsbooks are often described as sports bars on steroids, with comfy chairs, every brand of booze imaginable, sports grub, and dozens of monitors - and BetMGM’s are no exception. “It’s a billion dollar industry.”īetMGM is the casino giant’s subsidiary. And people were doing it anyway,” Flaim said.

Flaim and Johnny “Cakes” Auville stepped up to the betting counter at MGM National Harbor and became the fourth and fifth people in Maryland history to place legal sports wagers.įlaim’s wager: a $50 bet on the underdog Pittsburgh Steelers, getting three points, against the Minnesota Vikings. On Thursday, in an act that underscored sports gambling’s emergence from the shadows, hosts J.P.

So the hosts - four longtime friends from Bowie who got their start on local cable access - dubbed the segment “Friday Night Fatties.” It was their way of describing NFL picks that they considered “big fat winners.” When the Sports Junkies, a popular sports radio foursome, wanted to do an end-of-the-week betting segment in the late 1990s, jittery station managers asked them to be discreet about it. Sports betting became legal in Maryland more than three years after a Supreme Court ruling opened the door to wagering outside Nevada. Flaim, part of the Sports Junkies crew on WJFK (106.7 The Fan), places a bet at the opening of the BetMGM Sportbook at National Harbor on Thursday.

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