Maryland university-led sports betting advertising bill makes way through Senate
Legislation would impose general prohibition on colleges and universities signing deals with sportsbook operators to protect underage individuals
Maryland legislators are debating a new bill which would impose a general prohibition on Free State colleges and universities signing partnership deals with sports betting operators.
Senate bill 620, introduced earlier this month by Senator Shelly Hettleman, would stop all higher education institutions from entering into contracts with regulated operators if that institution receives “certain compensation” for student participation.
This includes any institution which limits enrolment to graduates of secondary schools, public and private institutions, and any institution where degree-level qualifications are awarded.
This provision focuses on contracts formed by those higher education entities which are subject to public inspection, in accordance with the Maryland Public Information Act.
The bill is currently making its way through the Maryland Senate, having been first read earlier this month by the Senate Committee on Education, Energy, and the Environment.
The Senate bill was cross-filed with a similar house-led bill, HB 0802, sponsored by Maryland Assembly delegate Jheanelle K. Wilkins, which has also been read initially by the Assembly’s Ways and Means and Appropriations committee.
College and university-based sports betting deals came into sharp focus in 2022, typified by a series of damning exposés into sportsbook practices in the area by The New York Times newspaper.
Caesars and US market-leader FanDuel have both committed to not signing any sportsbook-related deals with colleges or universities following the outcry.
In December, Barstool Sports was targeted by the Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC) over allowing marketing to underage individuals at Barstool’s college football show on the University of Toledo campus on November 15.
Ohio has some of the toughest standards relating to the marketing of sportsbooks in the US, with Massachusetts and now seemingly Maryland set to follow suit in short order.
SB 620 is the second advertising and marketing-led bill filed by Senator Hettleman after SB 621, which is aimed at clamping down on irresponsible sports betting content creators in their respective states.
This clampdown would be achieved through the recruitment of independent evaluators to audit all content created by regulated operators in the Free State.