Ruddock Report: Real Online Casino Candidates Emerge
Gambling bill season is underway, and the next two or three years suddenly look promising for several states
4 min
Our monthly look at the online gambling landscape includes the current legal and regulatory landscape, prospective online casino and online poker states, and significant trends to watch.
Do I dare I use the M-word to describe online casino efforts in 2025: Momentum?
It would be a surprise if a state managed to get a bill across the finish line this year, but there is growing momentum in several locales that could result in a handful of states legalizing online casino gambling in a two-to-three-year period.
LEGAL ONLINE GAMBLING ONLINE POKER-ONLY
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It’s officially gambling bill season.
We are three weeks into January, and four states have already filed legislation to legalize online casinos:
- Maryland
- Virginia
- Wyoming
- Indiana
That list will undoubtedly grow in the coming weeks and months (and there are some backdoor, longshot possibilities that could bypass the traditional legislative path that I’ll discuss in the “Trends to watch” section), but three of the four states that have already filed legislation are among the top candidates.
The current candidate list
The Ruddock Report will continue to update this list as bills are introduced.
- Maryland: HB 17, sponsored by Del. Vanessa Atterbeary
2025 was supposed to be a regrouping year for Maryland, but a $3 billion budget deficit has pushed the timeline forward. Vanessa Atterbeary has refiled her online casino bill from 2024, and another online gambling supporter in the Senate, Sen. Ron Watson, told Play USA’s Matthew Kredell that 2025 is on the table, and a ballot referendum may not be needed after all.
“The reason I changed my mind is because the revenue picture has worsened, and the governor stated that all options are on the table,” Watson told Kredell. “This is an option. Prudence dictates that this is available should the need arise as an alternative to raising taxes.”
All that said, a ballot referendum in 2026 is still the most likely path, not to mention the opposition of labor unions and Cordish Companies, which effectively sank last year’s efforts.
- Virginia: SB 827, sponsored by Sen. Mamie Locke
Virginia is a bit of a dark horse candidate. The state is making its first (official) foray into the online casino discussion with Sen. Mamie Locke’s online casino bill, SB 827. Locke’s legislation would limit licenses to the four existing B&M casinos and has moderate financial burdens with a $1 million license fee and a 15% tax rate — 2.5% of which is earmarked for problem gambling.
Like Maryland, Virginia will have to overcome the presence of Cordish Companies, which is developing a casino in Petersburg.
- Wyoming: HB 162, sponsored by Rep. Bob Davis
Wyoming emerged as a surprise online casino candidate in 2024, but efforts were quickly shelved. Still, industry watchers continue to point to Wyoming as one of the better candidates in 2025, likely due to the lack of stakeholder opposition and the insignificance of the state, which may keep the usual opponents on the sidelines and focused on holding the line in other states.
Wyoming state Rep. Bob Davis has introduced HB 162, which would require the Wyoming Gaming Commission to license a minimum of five online casino sites. The licensing fee is set at $100,000 for five years with a 16% tax rate — with the first $300,000 earmarked for problem gambling treatment.
A positive report from Spectrum Gaming that concluded online casinos would be accretive to the state’s tribal casinos should help. However, the debate will likely revolve around Spectrum’s assessment that while not cannibalistic, online could be stealing land-based growth in other markets.
- Indiana: HB 1432, sponsored by Rep. Ethan Manning
Thus far, the news coming out of Indiana has been positive. There is still some legislative opposition, but the taint of prior bribery scandals has finally washed off.
Another significant roadblock is Churchill Downs, which could be the second biggest operator critic of online casinos behind Cordish Companies.
Still, Indiana does have a chance, and it has a dedicated supporter in the House Public Policy Chair Ethan Manning, who has filed legislation to legalize online casinos and online lottery.
Trends to watch
Trend #1: Sweepstakes brought into the regulated fold?
Sweepstakes are expected to be one of the most contentious fights in 2025, but no one expected the first salvo in the fight to be a bill to legalize and regulate the product as online gambling operators. But that is precisely what New Jersey Assemblyman Clinton Calabrese did with his bill, A5196.
As Vixio Regulatory Intelligence’s Mackenzie Shanke wrote on LinkedIn:
“The bill would designate sweepstakes casinos as internet gaming and require licensure, oversight, and taxation thereof within an internet gaming framework. A huge shift in what has so far been an anti-sweepstakes casinos movement across the states.”
Trend #2: The backdoor approach available in tribal gaming states
As I noted in my Straight to the Point newsletter last week, “There isn’t much hope for online casino legislative efforts in 2025.” But legislative efforts aren’t the only way online casinos can be authorized, and with that in mind I have my eye on tribal gaming states.
Florida: As Ryan Butler reported from the NCLGS conference in December, “The Seminole Tribe of Florida is set to discuss a compact deal in 2025 that would allow online casino gaming, per GLI Executive Gabriel Benedik; the Tribe previously removed iGaming provisions from the compact that permitted mobile sports betting.”
Florida can legalize online casinos through a tribal compact, and the legislature would then need to ratify the compact. As I wrote in my newsletter, “The compacting process helps insulate lawmakers from much of the criticism in an increasingly charged political environment around online gambling.”
Arizona: The darkest of dark horses, Arizona was added to my candidate list following a September iDEA Growth Webinar, during which Matt Olin, CEO of Apache Gaming Enterprise, said he “wouldn’t be surprised if [iGaming] came very soon.” The state picked up more momentum at the Arizona Indian Gaming Association Expo in October, where tribal attorneys said that while nothing is imminent, talks have begun.
Still, with far more tribes to satisfy, the situation in Arizona is more complex than Florida.
