Best Maryland sweepstakes casinos in 2025

Maryland did not go out and create a brand new law just to deal with sweepstakes casinos. Instead, the state already had gambling laws in place and simply asked a basic question. Does this look like gambling under the rules we already use?

These rules come from Maryland Criminal Law § 12-102, according to which gambling is illegal unless it’s explicitly allowed and licensed by the state. In other words, when regulators check out an online gaming site, they don’t really worry about the labels or what the site is looking to do. What they’re doing is checking how the sweepstakes games actually work.

Here is what they look for:

• Is the outcome based on chance?

• Does the player give up something of value to keep playing?

• Can the player win something with real world value?

If you see all three of these elements, you’ve pretty much already got the answer.

And that’s exactly why sweepstakes casinos run into trouble. Because even if a site says something about free entry or sweepstakes rules, the games are still chance-based. As with most games, players spend money in some form, and prizes can be redeemed for real value.

From Maryland’s perspective, that combination is enough. No new law needed.

Once the law is clear, the next question is who actually applies it. In Maryland, those are the folks over at the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency (MLGCA).

The MLGCA is the state regulator responsible for deciding which forms of gaming are allowed in Maryland and which are not. Its job is to enforce the laws that already exist, not go out and about and create new ones.

When online sweepstakes casinos started popping up in Maryland, the agency decided that a new rule wasn’t necessary to handle them. Since the existing gambling laws were in place, the only question became whether and how these sites could be placed under that framework.

On its official “Legal vs. Illegal Online Gaming” page, the agency says that the only online gaming options allowed in Maryland are licensed online sports betting and registered fantasy competitions. Nothing else is included.

The agency even publishes a list of operators that are allowed to operate online in Maryland to make that clear. The list includes very well-known names like DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook, bet365, and ESPNBet, as well as a few other licensed sportsbooks.

But if you notice what’s missing, then you’ve got it. You won’t see a single sweepstakes casino on that list. You won’t see any social casino platforms either. Basically, the bottom line is that if you’re not on the list, you can’t legally offer online gaming in the state, according to the MLGCA.

The agency’s also made it pretty clear what happens when a site goes beyond those limits. On the same page, Maryland Lottery and Gaming says they contact operators they think are offering illegal online gaming and ask them to prove they’re allowed to do it or stop doing it in Maryland. Those cease-and-desist letters are made public.