Md. Dems need to OK sports betting

We’re nearly two-thirds of the way through the General Assembly session and we still have not seen the General Assembly address what should be the issue easiest to agree upon.

Last year at the ballot box, voters by an overwhelming two-thirds margin voted for the expansion of commercial gaming in Maryland to include sports wagering. One would think that this would be a slam dunk and that the General Assembly would move quickly to implement procedures to get this moving as soon as possible.

Longtime observers of the assembly in general and state gambling policy knew better.

Almost two years ago in this column, I chronicled how Democratic leadership in the General Assembly has been mismanaging gaming policy in this state for over a decade. I said at that time that it was imperative that the legislature call a special session for the purpose of legalizing sports betting so it could be approved by the voters and implemented as soon as possible.

A special session obviously did not happen, and the legislature still lacks the urgency and the political will to get this done quickly.

As is often the case, legislators are worried about minutiae instead of effective policy. Instead of allowing a regulatory body, such as the Maryland Lottery Commission, to determine the nuts and bolts of issues sports betting licensing, Democratic leadership would rather micromanage the process in a way that makes nobody happy.

So far, Democrats can’t seem to agree on how many licenses to offer. They can’t seem to agree on how many licenses should be for in-person gaming vis-à-vis mobile gaming. They can’t seem to agree on whether a holder of an in-person license should be automatically granted a mobile license, They can’t seem to agree on who should be able to apply for a license. They can’t seem to agree on whether or not there should be setasides for certain groups to create quotas for licenses.

And none of that takes into account individual legislators who have introduced separate legislation to make sure that sports gaming licenses are awarded to businesses in their own backyard.

Sports betting is an easy slam dunk and yet Democrats seem insistent on clanging the ball off the rim. Sports gaming is turning into as big a debacle as the medical marijuana regime. Your feelings about the legalization of weed aside, marijuana policy has been a mess in Maryland since the process started.

Instead of creating a free market environment that allows marijuana growers and distributors to grow their businesses free of regulation, the Democrats created a quasi-state controlled industry where state government gets to pick the winners and losers. And the winners tend to be politically connected Democrats.

The sports betting debacle (and, for that matter, the medical marijuana debacle) is a creation of the Democrats making. It shows how misguided legislative Democrats are when it comes to policymaking. Time and again, legislative Democrats have shown that creating effective policy is not the most important thing to them. Creating effective policy will always have less importance than ensuring Democratic special interest groups get taken care of, regardless of the regulatory burdens placed on others or the impact on taxpayers.

Contrary to what Democrats think, there is no legitimate reason for the General Assembly to micromanage who is and who is not eligible for a sports gaming license. Legislative Democrats need to move past their protect-our-donors governing philosophy and put people first.

Brian Griffiths is the publisher of The Duckpin and can be reached via email at brian. griffiths.media@gmail.com.