Maryland Lottery And Gaming Control Agency Sends Cease-And-Desist Letter To VGW
Company behind Chumba Casino and LuckyLand Slots has until March 27 to plead its case
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The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency has doubled down on its efforts to crack down on sweepstakes casinos in the state, sending a formal cease-and-desist letter to one of the industry’s largest operators just as legislation to ban such sites advances in the state legislature.
In a letter dated March 12, the agency informed Virtual Gaming Worlds (VGW), which operates such sites as Chumba Casino, LuckyLand Slots, and Global Poker, that it has come to the agency’s attention that VGW is “offering and conducting online gaming activities in Maryland without legal authority to do so.”
The letter, signed by Managing Director Michael Eaton, explicitly states that “the only online gaming permitted in Maryland is mobile/online sports wagering and online fantasy competitions,” adding that “online casino gaming (also known as iGaming) is not permitted in Maryland.”
The agency noted that the state commission “has no record of VGW being issued a sports wagering license, a casino gaming license, or registration as a fantasy competition operator.”
VGW has until 5 p.m. ET on March 27 to respond to the letter. If the company is indeed offering gaming activities in Maryland, it must provide detailed descriptions of all its casino games, sports wagering, and fantasy competition offerings, along with “any legal analysis or opinion interpreting Maryland Law that concludes, advises, or suggests that VGW may legally offer sports wagering, casino games or fantasy competition games in Maryland without Commission registration or licensure.”
The regulator is demanding that VGW acknowledge it will “cease offering any sports wagering, casino game, or fantasy competition in Maryland,” and provide “a date within 10 days from the date of this letter in which you intend to cease such operations.”
The letter warns that failure to comply “may jeopardize the ability of VGW to ever be issued: a license for sports wagering or gaming, registration as a fantasy competition operator, any other license, registration, or certification from the Commission in the future.”
Legislative action
This action comes as Senate Bill 0860, which aims to prohibit online sweepstakes games in the state, recently passed through the Budget and Taxation Committee without opposition. The House version of the bill is scheduled for a hearing this week.
Earlier this year, the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency sent similar cease-and-desist letters to 11 other sweepstakes casinos and sportsbooks, with reports indicating that operators including Stake.us and Rebet were among those contacted, though none had agreed to comply with the state’s demands at that time.
The timing of this latest letter suggests Maryland regulators are intensifying their efforts against sweepstakes operators ahead of potential legislative action that would explicitly outlaw their operations in the state.
