Are casinos in Maryland legal?
It depends on which type of casino you’re asking about. To make things clear, we’ve compiled a table here that provides the answers you are looking for. Bear in mind the situation differs for every state too, as we have seen in our
online casino in Massachusetts
guide.
| Casino Type/Format |
Are They Legal in Maryland? |
| Land-based casinos |
Yes |
| Online casinos |
No |
| Sweepstakes online casinos |
Yes |
You can see that if you want to play at a Maryland online casino, you’ll need to visit a sweepstakes casino. Those are perfectly legal to visit and sign up at, giving you the opportunity to enjoy plenty of casino-style games whenever you want to play them.
Will Maryland legalize real money online casinos soon?
It’s possible, although by no means certain. Sports betting has been legalized in the Old Line State, and State Delegate Vanessa Atterbeary proposed a legislative bill early in 2025 that may lead to the legalization of online casinos, too. Even if this was to occur, there is still a long way to go before real money Maryland online casinos may become a reality in Maryland.
Many states allow sweepstakes gameplay but not real money sites, as is the case in Indiana. You can look for an
Indiana online casino no purchase bonus
involving Gold Coins if you are visiting a sweepstakes casino there, for example, as they don’t yet allow real money casinos either.
Fortunately, Maryland does currently allow its residents to play at sweepstakes casinos, so if you join one of those, you can legally play hundreds of casino-style games from some major game developers in the industry. We’ll provide details of a couple of those shortly. Some people are looking to ban these sites, but until then, many providers are still operating in this state.
Can you play at every sweepstakes casino in Maryland?
No, but it is usually quite simple to work out whether you can play at a particular site or not. In some cases, you may see a message appear on the screen confirming that you cannot access the site or play there. However, even if you do manage to view a sweepstakes casino, don't assume you are able to play.
The best place to go is the terms and conditions page (or terms of use), which is usually linked from the lower menu on a website. There should be a section covering prohibited jurisdictions, which should list the US states the site does not operate in. You can also try accessing the signup screen for more details - this often lists all the accepted US states you can sign up from. If you don’t see Maryland, you can’t play there.
How to play at sweepstakes casinos in Maryland
If you’re wondering how a Maryland-based sweepstakes casino differs from any real money casinos you might have heard about, don’t worry. It’s quite easy to understand once you know what to expect. These sweepstakes casinos always have two in-house virtual currencies for you to use, with each one accessing a different form of gameplay. We’ve got some details on each of those virtual currencies below.
Gold Coins (GC)
You’ll use Gold Coins to play any of the available titles as social games. This means you can play for amusement and entertainment. You can win more Gold Coins doing this, and if this should happen, you can use those to play for longer. You can purchase more Gold Coins if you would like to do so, but this isn’t a requirement of using any sweepstakes casino in Maryland. They’re not worth anything either, so be aware of that before you consider getting any optional Gold Coin purchase packages.
Sweeps Coins (SC)
These are harder to collect and for good reason. The idea is that playing with Sweeps Coins gives you the opportunity to win some. It is your Sweeps Coins winnings that are redeemable for a real prize. Most sites offer cash prizes, but some also have gift cards to choose from. Some sites also have a lower threshold for Sweeps Coins winnings to be able to claim a gift card. You cannot purchase any Sweeps Coins, so you’ll need to look for ways to grab them when you can. The welcome bonus and daily login bonuses are a good way to start.
For sweepstakes casinos to be legit, they must not offer Sweeps Coins for sale. You might see some bundled with an optional Gold Coin purchase, but the Sweeps Coins themselves won’t have a price tag.
Our top recommendations for sweepstakes casinos in Maryland
Our research into Maryland casinos has revealed two excellent sweepstakes casinos you can try today. Here is our take on those, having signed up, claimed the welcome offer, and spent some time looking around them both.
RealPrize: A real delight to visit
Pros and cons of RealPrize
- Excellent Daily login bonus of 5,000 GC and 0.30 SC
- Fast gift card redemptions often within 24 hours
- Quality sweepstakes casino games from top providers like NetEnt
- Seven-tier VIP program with increasing rewards
- PayPal supported for purchases and redemptions
- Small game library of only 200+ titles
- Live chat support limited to higher VIP tiers
- No dedicated sweepstakes casino app
RealPrize has a great collection of
Maryland online slots
for you to play. Fire Stampede: Connect & Collect caught our attention to begin with, and we noticed a good array of Hold & Win titles as well, featuring this element as a bonus round. We picked up 100,000 Gold Coins to help us play some of the many social games there, along with two Sweeps Coins to save until we wanted to use them.
It’s not just about slots at RealPrize though. We found information covering some table games, with blackjack and roulette featuring there, along with some Texas Hold ‘Em to try.
LoneStar: Offers the best game studios
Lonestar Casino: Pros and Cons
- Generous GC and SC welcome bonus
- 300+ varied games from top developers
- Redeem Sweeps Coins winnings
- Optional Gold Coin purchases
This sweepstakes casino is legal in a range of US states, so you can play
online slots in Massachusetts, too, if you live there. For Maryland residents, it’s easy to visit and sign up for the welcome bonus. We claimed ours and received 100,000 Gold Coins and 2.5 Sweeps Coins to get us started.
We love LoneStar because it provides us with casino-style games from Booming Games, Pragmatic Play, and even the big hitter, NetEnt. That means we can find new titles to try whenever they are released, along with playing some famous slots, including Finn and the Candy Spin and Sugar Rush 1000. There are currently 500+ titles with more on the way.
Why can you play at some sweepstakes casinos in Maryland and not at others?
If you look into the world of sweepstakes casinos, you will soon notice that while they all have prohibited states they don’t operate in, the prohibited list can differ from one site to another. Some have far larger lists of US states they’re not currently available in, for example.
Maryland is an interesting one because our research confirms that - at the time of writing - there is no law that bans a sweepstakes casino in Maryland from running there. However, there is a bill underway that looks to do just that. If it should come to pass, these sites will need to withdraw from the Old Line State, otherwise they will be breaking the law.
It appears that a few sweepstakes casinos have decided to exit Maryland anyway, just to be on the safe side. If the bill fails, we’d expect them to return. In other cases, some sites have elected to carry on providing their services in the state for now. We’ll provide an update on this as soon as we hear anything new.
Put simply, then, it is always wise to read the terms for a site, so you can see what the current situation is. We have visited sites that have changed their availability overnight, so even if you sign up somewhere and it’s been a while since you played, check again to make sure you are still welcome.
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Q&As regarding sweepstakes casinos in Maryland
As we have noted, Maryland online casinos with real money gaming aren’t available there, but for now at least, sweepstakes casinos are. We’ve answered some of the most popular questions people ask about these sites here.
1. Can I win any real prizes at these sites?
You cannot directly win prizes while playing their casino-style games, but you should know more about the potential of getting sweepstakes prizes. The process involves playing with Sweeps Coins to see if you’re able to win some. It’s these Sweeps Coins winnings that will then be redeemed for a real prize if you hit the minimum requirement for doing so (this can vary from one site to the next). Some sites provide cash prizes via bank transfer, while others give the option of redeeming Sweeps Coin winnings for a gift card instead.
2. Do I need to pay tax on any winnings I receive?
If you win enough Sweeps Coins to trigger a prize redemption at a sweepstakes online casino in Maryland, you will be required to pay tax on it according to Maryland law. Income tax will automatically be withheld if you redeem Sweeps Coins winnings worth the equivalent of $5,000 or more. This applies to both federal and state taxes.
3. Can I swap my Gold Coins for Sweeps Coins to have more to play with?
Unfortunately, no - the virtual currencies cannot be exchanged for one another. There are other ways to pick up some Sweeps Coins though. Check the daily login bonus, and follow your selected site on social media too, as we’ve found giveaways on most of those pages when exploring on Facebook and Instagram. You cannot redeem the Gold Coins for anything - just the Sweeps Coins, as detailed above.
4. I’m in a state that doesn’t allow sweepstakes casinos - can I use a VPN to make it appear that I’m in Maryland instead?
No. By now, you can see that different US states have their own legislation and regulations about which types of online gambling they allow. This means that sweepstakes casinos must be able to tell where each player is visiting from. While you can use a VPN to make it look as if you are in Maryland (or indeed another accepted US state), you will still need to prove who you are and where you live. This means providing official ID and proof of address - and the latter must, of course, be in Maryland in this case.
How to get more GC and SC to play with at sweepstakes casinos in Maryland
We’ve found lots of common methods available for getting more Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins to use at your chosen sweepstakes site in this state. We’ve listed some of the more familiar ones here.
🎉 Claim your welcome bonus
Every sweepstakes casino provides newcomers with a signup or welcome bonus. You will usually need to verify your email address (and sometimes your phone number) to get this. Once you’ve done so, you can expect to find your Gold Coins - plus a few Sweeps Coins in most cases - inside your account, ready to use for some casino-style gameplay. We noted two excellent welcome offers at RealPrize and LoneStar, so you’ve got some promising options there.
📅 Don’t forget your daily login bonus
This doesn’t roll over from one day to the next, so you must remember to login and claim your daily offer every 24 hours. It will provide you with some Gold Coins to use, and potentially a Sweeps Coin as well, or at least part of one. Some sites have the same daily bonus each time, whereas others can change things. A daily login bonus that becomes progressively larger or changes from day to day is a possibility, for example.
💰 Optional first-purchase promo for Gold Coins
You won’t need to spend a dime to use any online sweepstakes casino. We know these sites do have Gold Coin packages available though, so if you want to purchase some more Gold Coins at any point, you can do so. Some packages will come with Sweeps Coins as a freebie, but check and see which ones this relates to, as they may not all include the free offer.
⭐ Check for a VIP program
We haven’t always confirmed the presence of a program like this at sweepstakes casinos in Maryland. However, it is a feature that can crop up. When it does, there are usually several levels, each providing various bonuses and perks each day. When you play the social casino games, you’ll typically earn points, and when you get enough points, you will reach a new level and get better perks there as well.
🎁 Watch out for social media giveaways
Sweepstakes casinos often set up pages on various social media sites, with Instagram, X, and Facebook among the most common. We have visited pages that have daily offers and competitions on the go. Read the instructions carefully and see what the prizes are. We have found giveaways offering thousands of Gold Coins and usually some Sweeps Coins as well. Quite often you only need to leave a comment to have a chance of getting some virtual currencies.
Pros and cons of sweepstakes casinos in Maryland
Pros and cons
- Sweepstakes are legal there
- They’re free to join
- No Gold Coin purchases required
- Play thousands of casino-style games
- Some sites aren’t available there
Find a favorite sweepstakes casino in Maryland today
While not all sweepstakes casinos are available in the Old Line State, some of the best of them are. We’d suggest visiting the sites reviewed above, so you can compare the opening bonuses and other features on offer at each, including their social casino-style games. Even though you cannot play at a real money casino in Maryland, it’s good to know that sweepstakes casinos are a legit and legal alternative, providing you with all the entertainment you’ve been looking for.
So if you want to experience playing free casino-style games in Maryland, hit the links on this page to get started with your chosen platform today!
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Casino in Maryland FAQs
🎰 Does Maryland have any casinos?
At the time of writing, there are six brick-and-mortar casino locations to visit across the state. Online casinos are not legal there, although sweepstakes casinos are permitted at present.
💻 Can you gamble online in Maryland?
You can legally bet on sports at a registered and licensed sportsbook in the state. However, the law does not extend to offering real money online casinos.
🚫 Why has Stake.us left Maryland?
This sweepstakes casino was originally available in the state, but there is a bill that aims to ban sweepstakes casinos in Maryland. Stake.us therefore decided to leave the state ahead of what might happen.
💰 Can I redeem my Gold Coin winnings at a Maryland sweepstakes casino?
No - these sites use Gold Coins as virtual currency to play social games. You cannot redeem or exchange Gold Coins for anything else.
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