FOMO Drives Mid-Atlantic iGaming Interest in 2026

Legislators across the Mid-Atlantic have begun positioning their pieces on the chessboard in 2026, ahead of another year of bruising battles over iGaming. But this early movement isn’t about consumer demand. It’s about revenue containment. It’s about ensuring that their slice of gaming revenue isn’t gobbled up by some neighboring state. 

The difference this year may very well come down to simple avarice. Pennsylvania rang up nearly $2.8 billion in iGaming revenue from its online casinos in 2025. That was a 27% YOY improvement, and it has more than doubled since 2022. New Jersey grew its iGaming revenue 22%,  to just over $2.9 billion. This was the first time online casinos out-earned their brick-and-mortar competition in the Garden State. 

While many smaller markets, such as Delaware, Rhode Island, and West Virginia, also had remarkable years. Delaware saw its revenue more than double, Rhode Island saw more than $1.5 billion wagered in its first full year of online casinos, and West Virginia continues to show remarkable growth, bringing in nearly $39 million in just January 2026, and one of several recent months that have been up more than 50% from the prior year. 

Cross-Border Conundrum 

This area stretching along the eastern seaboard from Upstate New York to the Virginia/North Carolina border is home to slightly over 60 million people in one of the most densely populated areas of the country. Geographic borders here snake along rivers and twist and turn along 300-year-old colonial land grants. Some states like Delaware can be crossed in as little as 20 minutes. State lines aren’t as momentous here as somewhere like Texas. Tens of millions cross one in their daily travels. 

In this sort of tightly woven demographic carpet, geofencing is more a way to divvy up that revenue pie than making sure that only residents can play iGaming apps. A Hagerstown MD resident is a couple minutes on I-81 to be able to bet on their phone in Pennsylvania. The Hudson river is probably the most stark digital divide in the whole country. Millions of New York residents only need to drive across the mile-wide stretch of the GW Bridge or take a quick tunnel ride before they can access their BetMGM Casino or DraftKings app. 

Online casinos may live on these smartphones, but that tax revenue flows to state capitols. Geolocation software on the Tappen Zee will notify you the second you can bet in NJ, or more importantly, when that tap is turned off again on the way back. In a region where state borders can be traversed in minutes and many regard as nothing but lines on a map, in any case, every crossing becomes more about a fiscal dividing line. Who now has the right to claim those digital online casino dollars? But first of course, you have to have legalized iGaming.

Maryland’s Now or Never Moment

For Maryland, they are on the clock. It’s not just another legislative session as far as iGaming is concerned, because any changes to the law regarding it must first pass a constitutional amendment. Lawmakers must move quickly if they intend to have the question on the November ballot. Miss this window, and the issue likely stalls for years. But their hand is further forced by geography. They are surrounded by Pennsylvania, Delaware, and West Virginia, which already have rapidly growing online casino markets, and Virginia which is actively considering one. 

The recently introduced HB 1343 in the House joins SB 885 in the Maryland Senate to authorize the Maryland State Lottery and Gaming Control Commission to begin the process of issuing licenses and regulating online play. Companion bills SB 884 which would create a skill-based internet gaming license, presumably aimed at poker, and SB 761 which would call for the required Statewide referendum in November, have also been introduced by Senator Ron Watson.

Having learned from past mistakes, Watson has carefully crafted his bills to ease some of the concerns of labor unions about job loss at land-based casinos, as well as made the legislation more home team friendly by carving out provisions which favor those same brick-and-mortar casinos already operating in the state, though noticeably it doesn’t yet include a tax rate. Committee hearings are set for March 5th.

Big Apple Bites

Albany spent the last few months of 2025 getting its downstate brick-and-mortar licensing finished up to stop the hemorrhaging of cash from the five boroughs of New York to Pennsylvania and New Jersey land-based casinos. With that finished, it can now turn its attention to all those digital gambling dollars being hoovered up as well. 

While Maryland Senator Watson may have learned a few tricks, NY Senator Joe Addabbo could probably be doing TED talks down at the kennel. And his union sweetener approach to the iGaming problem is a fine example. SB 2614 does have a tax rate in mind, and that is 30.5% going directly to the State’s education fund. 

He also has made labor peace agreements a key part of his plan, as well as calling for all live dealer games operated by online operators to take place in NY, which could mean 3,000 to 5,000 union jobs. Gambling servers would also be required to be on the actual gaming properties, meaning new high-tech jobs as well. 

Traditional slot operations are not labor-intensive. Resort operations are. Addabbo’s approach attempts to bridge that divide by converting potential cannibalization fears into union-backed job growth. For instance, the bill requires the creation of a $25 million training and health fund administered by labor organizations to assist workers impacted by job loss.

Addobbo successfully advanced an anti-sweepstakes casino bill in late 2025, strengthening his credibility. Now with downstate gaming licenses issued, the political environment would appear to have shifted in his favor. However, Governor Hochul remains the ultimate hurdle. Her inclusion of the bill in the budget, due April 1st,  would dramatically improve the bill’s odds. Without it, the bill remains very much a dark horse despite recent progress. 

Virginia’s Velocity Vision

Fear of missing out looks a little different further South in Virginia. Of their five bordering states, currently only West Virginia has iGaming. What they would like is a first mover advantage in the lower Mid-Atlantic, perhaps drawing players from Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee, plus a shot at the DC and Maryland markets, before Annapolis acts.

SB 118 which advanced out of the Virginia Finance and Appropriations Committee on February 10th, does just that, but unfortunately, the state’s assembly session in 2026 only runs from January 14th to March 14th.

The bill, now being considered by the full Senate, has less than a week to pass in order to make the crossover deadline to be considered by the House. A supporting House Bill has also shown promise but it has even further complications requiring that the entire Virginia legislature would have to repass the motion in 2027. 

This would suggest that the clock is close to running out on this shortened legislative session. Still positive movement and support bode well for next year’s session, which kicks off January 13th, 2027. 

It’s also true that the state is still in the process of rolling out several new land-based casinos in Norfolk and Petersburg that were late to market as well as discussing a new Gaming Commission to streamline operations now carried out amongst the Virginia Lottery, Virginia Consumer Services and even the Racing Commission.

While not significant hurdles, the odds of passage almost certainly improve once these tasks are complete. Virginia’s velocity may have to be measured in middle distances rather than a sprint. 

Reclaiming Revenue

The first six weeks of 2026 have confirmed what many residents already understand: the Mid-Atlantic no longer functions as a collection of isolated iGaming markets; it’s one interconnected corridor. From the Lincoln tunnel to the Mason-Dixon line, this cross-border movement is constant, and wagering will always follow the most convenient path.

Lawmakers then have a simple choice. Recapture and regulate those gaming dollars, or continue watching residents fund neighboring infrastructure. History already suggests how this ends. From land-based casinos to online sports betting, resistance eventually gives way to revenue-based reality. In 2026, the only question is which states move fast enough to keep pace and which get left behind.