Online Maryland sports betting is still months away, but Rush Street Interactive (RSI) and Penn National Gaming have entered into a strategic partnership to allow RSI to offer its BetRivers.com sports betting and casino platforms in the state.
BetRivers will be offered through one of the mobile licenses of Penn National Gaming’s Hollywood Casino in Perryville, 45 miles north of Baltimore off of I-95. Penn National already offers sports betting at the Hollywood Casino in its retail sportsbook.
Hollywood Casino is one of five venues that has launched retail sports betting in the state.
The Chicago-based Rush Street Interactive partnership agreement with Penn National also includes Ohio and Missouri and runs for 20 years, according to a news release. The Penn National deal also allows RSI to potentially expand into Texas, if that state moves forward at some point with online sports betting.
“The addition of Ohio, Maryland and Missouri to our market access portfolio, specifically, builds on RSI’s success in neighboring states and will create enhanced marketing efficiencies for our BetRivers.com brand,” RSI President Richard Schwartz said in the release. “We continue to engage in productive dialogue with industry participants, such as tribal and commercial casinos and other stakeholders, to further our expansion into new states.
”We expect to continue entering into additional market access arrangements in the future, as other opportunities arise.”
Retail Sports Betting Started in December
Maryland’s first legal sportsbook opened in December 2021. The BetMGM Sportsbook at MGM National Harbor opened first on Dec. 9, followed the next day by the Live! Casino and Hotel in Hanover and the Horseshoe Casino in Baltimore. The TwinSpires Sportsbook opened at Ocean Downs Casino in Berlin a week later and Hollywood Casino’s sportsbook opened a week after that.
In January, the first full month of Maryland brick-and-mortar sports betting, took in $32.5 million, netting the state approximately $650,000 in new taxes, on $4.3 million in taxable revenue.
John Martin, Maryland Lottery & Gaming director, told BetMaryland.com earlier in February that he hopes online sports gambling can be available in the state in September.
Many states target September so they can have sports betting up and running in time for NFL betting. That would be key in Maryland with the Baltimore Ravens expected to be a top contender to reach the Super Bowl.
More on Rush Street
RSI operates online gaming sites in Arizona, Louisiana, Connecticut, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia, the release said. It now has market access deals for online gaming in New York, Ohio, Maryland and Missouri.
In September 2016, Rush Street launched its first online game site in New Jersey and was the first to launch regulated online gaming in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana and Pennsylvania. Through RushBet.co, the company is also the first U.S.-based gaming operator to launch a legal and regulated online casino and sportsbook in the country of Colombia, the release said.
