Multi-operator sportsbook advocacy group fined $48,000 by Maryland regulators
Free State branch of Sports Betting Alliance censured over failure to comply with expenditure disclosure requirements
The Maryland branch of national advocacy group the Sports Betting Alliance (SBA) has been fined $48,000 by the Maryland State Board of Elections for contravening state campaigning laws.
The SBA was issued with the fine following an investigation by the board which revealed it had failed to comply with the state’s 48-hour disclosure requirements.
In Maryland, lobbying groups can accept uncapped contributions from organizations, but must declare any expenditures of $10,000 or more to the Maryland State Board of Elections within 48 hours or face censure.
Failure to file is punishable by a $1,000 per day fine or 10% of what the organization spends in the state, whichever is greater.
The fine is understood to relate to the SBA’s activities during the 2020 campaign to legalize sports betting in Maryland via a voter referendum, a campaign which was successful in November 2020, when voters in the state greenlit the constitutional amendment required to legalize the vertical.
It represents the largest ever fine issued by the Maryland State Board of Elections in its history.
Details of the expenditure in question have not been disclosed by the board, and contributions specifically made to the Maryland SBA during the period are also unavailable to the public.
Operators including DraftKings, BetMGM, and FanDuel were major contributors to the eventual winning ‘Yes On 2’ campaign, contributing just over $5m to the campaign.
The trio, along with Fanatics, are all members of the SBA, a national organization which calls for greater sports betting legalization across the US, as well as the implementation of safeguards against black market operators in those jurisdictions.
In comments reported by the Maryland Matters website, a spokesperson for the SBA acknowledged its mistake.
“This was simply a filing error by our compliance team,” a spokesman for the Sports Betting Alliance said.
“As soon as we realized the mistake, we immediately filed the missing form and worked with the Maryland State Board of Election to correct the error,” the SBA added.