A reminder: Just because you can roll dice at a half-dozen Maryland casinos doesn’t mean you can’t be arrested and jailed for doing it at an underground gambling spot or on your own turf.
But this legislative session, Baltimore State Sen. Jill Carter and Montgomery County Del. David Moon hope to change that by removing incarceration from the equation for punishing street gambling.
SB 842, sponsored by Carter, seeks to change the punishment for illicit wagers—think sports betting with bookies, dice with neighbors and card games in underground casinos, or other spots not overseen or sanctioned by Maryland Gaming and Lottery. Moon has filed companion legislation, HB 113, in the House of Delegates.
“I think as a public policy, we have to make a decision that if we’re allowing gambling on so many levels, and if we’re looking at sports betting, then we need to address this aspect of the code that criminalizes petty gambling for everyday people,” Carter testified at a Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee hearing on Tuesday.
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