MD Meeting, Update on Watson Bill, and iDEA Next Steps
iDEA met with Sen Watson & House Chair Atterbeary on 1/18. Watson is open to compromise on various areas, including tax rate. He believes including some minority market access component will be critical.
Watson’s current bill creates a license for at least one minority-owned Maryland business (Urban One). House lawmakers plan to cross-file a bill, which can be amended to address concerns. The House is the chamber where the legislation will first move. At this moment, the Senate is not as supportive as the House.
iDEA is scheduled to be back in Maryland next week to meet with House leadership and Senate lawmakers. We are evaluating questions for the Senate Budget and Tax Committee for their briefing with the Innovation Group next week. A link to live-stream the meeting on January 23, 2024 at 1pm EST is here.
iDEA plans to share with Maryland lawmakers key points to counter the NERA report and conduct a focused analysis of PA iGaming/retail market to show it will not harm land-based casinos in MD.