Friday afternoon, Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown issued a consumer alert warning Old Line State residents of potentially misleading advertising in some sportsbook promotions.
AG in MD says:
"Deceptive practices and scams have the potential to overshadow the excitement of sports betting and leave Marylanders vulnerable to financial losses…"
Marylanders Should Be Wary of Deceptive Online Sports Betting Companies and Scamshttps://t.co/u00H7Olcnk pic.twitter.com/ZX2tDA1Wct
— Alfonso Straffon 🇨🇷🇺🇸🇲🇽 (@astraffon) May 19, 2023
Brown didn’t name any specific operator or promotion in the press release. Still, his warning regarding “risk-free” verbiage was explicitly aimed at the online sportsbook platforms in operation since November 2022.
“Deceptive practices and scams have the potential to overshadow the excitement of sports betting and leave Marylanders vulnerable to financial losses,” said Attorney General Brown. “I urge all Marylanders to remain vigilant, conduct thorough research, and exercise caution to avoid financial loss due to misleading tactics. We will protect Maryland residents and their hard-earned money from deception by online sports gaming companies.”
While AG Brown probably didn’t need such drastic steps, some ads are deceptive. The realities of sports betting in general and the bonuses in particular represented in some advertisements sometimes do use false verbiage like “risk-free” and “easy money,” but wouldn’t it be easier to simply inform the sportsbooks operators and request they remove the misleading claims rather than blast them to the masses?
Bonuses are Anything But Misleading
While the advertisements may sometimes be misleading, the terms and conditions for the various bonuses and odds boosts offered by the online bookies are clear and don’t contain any of the occasionally tricky verbiage found in some of the advertisements AG Brown targeted in his press release.
MD Betting has compiled a list of each online sportsbook legally operating within Old Line State boundaries. Each bonus is fully explained to the best of our ability, and we update the pages daily. This is done to help the Maryland bettor decide about each bonus before downloading the app.
Read the Terms and Conditions
While the bonuses offered by the various companies may all look and sound the same, every bonus is different. Each bonus and odds boost has its own terms and conditions that must be met for the bonus to be activated and what conditions must be met before withdrawing any winnings.
Some bonuses require an initial winning wager, while others are only activated after the initial losing wager is settled. Some bonuses offer anywhere from 4-6 betting credits when a $5 minimum bet is accepted, while others provide just one credit for the losing first wager.
For this reason, the Maryland consumer must read through the readily available and easily accessible requirements before agreeing to and accepting an online sportsbook bonus.
No Such Thing as Risk-Free in Sports Betting
Finally, despite what some companies may advertise, gambling in general and sports betting in particular come with its share of risks, and Maryland betting promos aren’t any different.
The Maryland sports bettor needs to read through and fully understand the terms and conditions for each bonus and determine if the rewards of that bonus are worthy of whatever risk is involved.
