Ruddock Report: Down, But Not Out
The past month has brought with it a faint glimmer of hope for online casino legalization
5 min
Our monthly look at the online gambling landscape includes the current legal and regulatory scene, prospective online casino and online poker states, and significant trends to watch.
As Rocky told Tommy Gunn in the forgettable Rocky V, “Yo, Tommy, I didn’t hear no bell.”
March was the proverbial kick in the stomach for online casino legalization supporters, as three states were taken off the board: Virginia, Maryland, and Massachusetts.
But after watching state after state go down like early Mike Tyson opponents, iGaming supporters got a pleasant, albeit small, surprise when a bill emerged in Washington D.C. in April.
DC hearing highlights stakeholder divides
The legislation, B 26-0656, sponsored by Councilmember Wendell Felder, was introduced on April 9. It seeks to legalize online casino gambling through an open, competitive marketplace. Licensing fees would be set at $2 million, and the tax rate at 25%, with an additional 2% local fee. There would be no explicit cap on licenses, but preference would be given to existing mobile sports betting licensees.
The bill received a near four-hour hearing in front of the City Council Committee on Human Services last Monday. The committee did not take a vote on the bill.
As noted in my Straight to the Point newsletter, the online gambling critics that testified have started focusing on a new talking point that undercuts one of the two main arguments for legalization — consumer protections and moving customers from the black market to regulated markets. (The other cornerstone argument in favor of legalization is lost tax revenue, which critics already counter with cannibalization and job loss fears.)
The resiliency of the black market was brought up by three people:
- Oliver Barie, government relations director for the National Association Against iGaming, said based on the industry’s own estimates put out by the American Gaming Association on Super Bowl and March Madness betting estimates, illegal gambling revenue is growing, despite more states legalizing the activity.
- Keith Whyte, the former executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling and now an industry consultant, told the committee that even when legalized, only a third of customers will bet strictly in regulated markets, a third will bet strictly in unregulated markets, and a third will use a mixture of the two.
- Brianne Doura-Schawohl, who represented The Campaign for Fairer Gambling at the hearing, pointed to a study from Penn State University reporting that illegal market usage by Pennsylvanians rose from 6% to 10% from 2024 to 2025.
A minor update in Maine
The Maine legislature passed legislation legalizing online casinos in 2025, and after putting the bill on ice until 2026, Gov. Janet Mills (surprisingly) signed it into law to start this year.
Churchill Downs has filed a lawsuit against Maine, as the bill gives exclusivity over online casino games to Maine tribes, shutting out the state’s two land-based casino operators. Penn Entertainment, the other commercial casino operator in the state, hasn’t joined the legal fight but is watching it closely, as well as firing a warning shot across the bow of the state, as CEO Jay Snowden said the following during the company’s Q1 2026 earnings call:
“We are not happy with how that was put together in Maine — as one of the two land-based operators who have paid hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes, invested a lot of money, and employ a lot of Mainers. If that ends up being implemented the way it was proposed, you should expect Penn to be investing next to zero in the state of Maine going forward.”
2025-2026 online casino bills
The Ruddock Report will revise this list as new bills are introduced.
Active bills
Illinois
- HB 4797, sponsored by Rep. Edgar González Jr.
- HB 4802 (poker-only), sponsored by Rep. Edgar González Jr.
I’ve likened Illinois to the little engine that can’t, as there have been efforts to legalize online casinos in the state going back more than a decade.
There is certainly high-level support, as Gov. JB Pritzker called online casinos an idea worth exploring last year. Pritzker’s 2026 budget says nothing about online gambling but does propose increasing taxes on existing casino table games.
More importantly, until the politically powerful VGT industry is on board, which is unlikely to happen anytime soon, legalization will remain out of reach. In January 2026, the team at Citizens met with Accel Entertainment and was told by Accel management that “there is no shot” of iGaming legalization in the state.
And recall that the March 13, 2025 hearing turned into an anti-legalization struggle session, when the anti-online crowd marched in small business owners to hammer home its point.
Rep. Edgar González Jr. has filed two bills in 2026. The first resembles last year’s effort, HB 3080; the second is an online poker-only bill that has no text, and simply reads, “Amends the Illinois Gambling Act. Adds a Section concerning online poker. Contains a Section heading only.”
Also working against Illinois are the ongoing effort to repeal the recently enacted city of Chicago tax on sports betting and the authorization of VGTs in Chicago.
New York
New York has frustrated online gambling supporters for more than a decade. Last year’s efforts barely got off the ground as the state was busy handing out downstate casino licenses. Now that those licenses have been awarded, there is growing optimism that the legislature can turn its attention to online, but there are still several hurdles to clear.
The major roadblock is the state’s labor unions and its cannibalization concerns, and with three new casinos coming, that means thousands of new union jobs and three new land-based properties to voice concerns about online cannibalization. Nor are any of the three casino operators (Bally’s, Hard Rock, and Genting) online-focused companies.
And Gov. Kathy Hochul hasn’t shown any signs of supporting iCasinos.
Washington, DC
- CB 260656, sponsored by Councilmember Wendell Felder
As noted above, a new bill in D.C. would legalize online casino games while simultaneously prohibiting sweepstakes sites. A hearing was held on May 4, but after fours of robust debate, no vote was taken.
Inactive bills
Hawaii
The bills did not meet the legislative deadline and are effectively dead for the year.
Maryland
State Sen. Ron Watson has introduced two separate bills, one to legalize online poker, and one that would legalize online casino games and bingo — SB 885 is paired with SB 761, which requires a statewide voter referendum in November 2026 for full implementation. The online poker bill is an interesting proposal that may be able to overcome the union and stakeholder opposition that has thwarted the state’s past online casino efforts.
A hearing on March 11 in the Budget and Taxation Committee resulted in no vote, as problem gambling and cannibalization concerns persist.
The bill failed to pass the Senate before the March 23 crossover deadline and is effectively dead for the year.
SB 884 was withdrawn by Watson on March 13.
Massachusetts
- HB 4431, sponsored by Rep. David Muradian
Massachusetts held two committee hearings on online casinos in 2025, but a vote was never taken. A June 23, 2025, legislative hearing (on HB 332 and SB 235) was short and sweet, with testimony and no questions from the committee. No vote was taken at the November hearing in front of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies either, but lawmakers did ask questions, and most of the questions pointed to concerns about the existing harms of sports betting.
The upcoming launch of online lottery products will also make further expansion difficult, as Massachusetts Treasurer Deborah Goldberg said in December, “I, right now, am firmly against iGaming. They may not like me for that, but I gotta think about the people of Massachusetts, and that’s my top priority.”
Virginia
Virginia burst into the online casino conversation last year with two bills, SB 827, sponsored by Sen. Mamie Locke, and HB 2171, sponsored by Del. Marcus Simon. The existence of the bills wasn’t a surprise, but the attention they received certainly was. Still, stakeholder opposition and union concerns caused Locke and Simon to pull their respective bills.
Simon and Locke introduced new bills in 2026, HB 161 and SB 118, in January. The new bills include policies to address lottery and job concerns, as well as higher problem gambling funding.
The bills progressed to a conference committee but got no further.
