Maryland Election Board Hits Sports Betting Alliance with Record Fine

Maryland State Board of Elections has issued the largest fine in its history to the Sports Betting Alliance for failing to comply with disclosure requirements.

According to the details of the penalty, the fine of $48,000 was issued as a result of activities that took place during the 2020 election when the local electorate was asked to vote on the legalization of sports betting in Maryland. Expenditures of $10,000 or more must be publicly disclosed to the Maryland State Board of Elections within 48-hours. The board found that the Sports Betting Alliance breached this condition.

The Sports Betting Alliance represents the interests of DraftKings, BetMGM, FanDuel and Fanatics all of which hold sports betting licenses in the state of Maryland.

Speaking of the fine Jared DeMarinis, director of candidacy and campaign finance for the board said:

“We’re cracking down hard on disclosure with independent expenditure entities and that was the biggest one that was collected so far

The whole point is that these penalties are here because of the impact independent expenditure committees can have on the process. They usually come in the last possible second and do some political ads or disseminate campaign material that could possibly affect the election and you need to have very timely disclosure to ensure that individuals are making informed choices at the ballot box.”

A spokesperson for the Sports Betting Alliance said of the penalty:

“This was simply a filing error by our compliance team. As soon as we realized the mistake, we immediately filed the missing form and worked with the Maryland State Board of Election to correct the error.”

Details of the exact figure spent by the sports betting group has not been made available yet.
 
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