Last week, Card Player had an opportunity to chat with Maryland’s Director of the State Lottery and Gaming Control Agency, Stephen Martino, to talk about its table game expansion, online gaming, sports betting, and plans for 2014.
Earlier this year, Maryland debuted live dealer table games at its first casino. The move is expected to bolster the industry and the economy there. Martino says the table game expansion has created economic development through the addition of jobs.
“I think it [table games] was passed with a couple of things in mind,” he admits. “One was creating economic development opportunity through the hiring of a a large number of people to work on them, and that’s what happened.”
Martino goes on to say that the move has also helped Maryland be competitive since large numbers of people were willing to drive to other states for table games.
According to Martino, online gaming has not been discussed but it is something they will “keep an eye on.”
As for sports betting, Martino says that there appears to be quite an interest for it. But he says that most people are unaware of the hurdles that sports betting faces and the efforts required to get it off the ground.
In the coming year, Martino believes that people will see a maturity of the state’s casinos, in addition to the opening of Horseshoe Casino in Baltimore City. 2014 is shaping up to be an active year for gambling in Maryland.
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