Both major national lottery jackpots continued their march upward after drawings Monday and Tuesday, with Mega Millions inching tantalizingly close to an estimated $1 billion top prize. Only five previous Mega Millions jackpots have hit that mark.

The Powerball jackpot rolled over again on Monday night and now stands at an estimated $687 million, with its next drawing tonight (Wednesday, March 20).

• Mega Millions: $977 million estimated jackpot, next drawing Friday, March 22.
• Powerball: $687 million estimated jackpot, next drawing Wednesday, March 20.

If either or both continue to elude a winner in upcoming draws, 2024 could see its first billion-dollar-plus jackpot, a mark that has become more common in recent years. Powerball had a $1.765 billion jackpot (won by a single ticket) as recently as October 2023.

Powerball and Mega Millions tickets are sold for $2 apiece in 45 U.S. states, as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

• To play Mega Millions, pick five numbers between 1 and 70, and a sixth number between 1 and 25. If you don’t want to pick the numbers yourself, you can get a set of numbers generated for you.
• To play Powerball, pick five numbers between 1 and 69 and a Powerball number from 1 to 26 (or have them randomly generated).

How much is the Mega Millions jackpot?

The current jackpot is estimated at $977 million.

Winners can opt to take their winnings in the form of an annuity or as a single lump sum, known as the cash option. The cash option for the current jackpot is estimated at $461 million.

By taking the annuity option, the winner would get the full jackpot advertised by Mega Millions, but it would be spread out in payments over 30 years.

No matter how lucky you are, you won’t get around paying taxes on a lottery jackpot. After mandatory federal income tax withholding, you’d get roughly $350 million, if you took the cash option. How much more you’d pay come tax time depends on whether you take where you bought the ticket — and where you live. To prepare, make sure you know the ins and outs of how the lottery works.

When is the next Mega Millions drawing?

• The winning numbers will be drawn Friday, March 22 at 11 p.m. Eastern Time.
• If there’s still no jackpot winner, the grand prize will continue to grow.
• The odds of winning the jackpot are roughly 1 in 303 million.

How much is the next Powerball jackpot?

The current jackpot is estimated at $687 million.

Like Mega Millions, winners of Powerball can choose between an annuity that pays out over 30 years or a single lump sum. The cash option for the current jackpot is $327.3 million. After mandatory federal taxes, the holder of a single winning ticket would keep about $248.7 million, minus any state taxes.

When is the next Powerball drawing?

• The winning numbers will be drawn Wednesday, March 20 at 11 p.m. Eastern Time.
• If there’s still no jackpot winner, the grand prize will continue to grow.
• The odds of winning the jackpot are roughly 1 in 292 million.

The jackpot isn’t the only way to win. Both games have prizes for ticket holders whose chosen numbers match the drawing in a variety of combinations.

10 largest lottery jackpots

• $2.04 billion (Powerball, Nov. 8, 2022 — one winning ticket).
• $1.765 billion (Powerball, Oct. 11, 2023 — one winning ticket).
• $1.586 billion (Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016 — three winning tickets).
• $1.58 billion (Mega Millions, Aug. 8, 2023 — one winning ticket).
• $1.537 billion (Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018 — one winning ticket).
• $1.348 billion (Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023 — one winning ticket).
• $1.337 billion (Mega Millions, July 29, 2022 — one winning ticket).
• $1.08 billion (Powerball, July 19, 2023 — one winning ticket).
• $1.05 billion (Mega Millions, Jan. 22, 2021 — one winning ticket).
• $977 million (Mega Millions, pending).

The article Lottery Jackpot Approaches $1 Billion originally appeared on NerdWallet.

A survey conducted with 3,000 participants posed the following question: If you won a lottery, what kind of property would you invest in?

Turns out, more than a couple destinations in the Nutmeg state made the list. Beachfront homes in Fairfield County landed 23rd, with real estate offerings bringing a blend of coastal living and upscale amenities. The direct access to Long Island shores is a great plus, too. Greenwich made the list as well at 40th, unsurprisingly. Its spread of luxurious homes “often feature private beaches, docks, and stunning views of the water,” according to the release. Country estates in Litchfield County and historic mansions in Hartford came in at 47th and 76th, respectively.

Curious about the top ten places lottery-winners would go to live? Here is the top 10:

1. Hawaiian Haven: Resort-Style Villas in Hawaii. 

Topping the list is the Big Island of Hawaii, where winners would purchase resort-style villas within the confines of elite communities such as Hualalai and Mauna Kea. These lavish dwellings boast amenities fit for royalty, including access to premier golf courses, private pools, and mesmerizing vistas of the ocean or the island’s distinct volcanic topography.

2. Urban Oasis: Penthouses in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Hawaii makes another appearance with its capital city’s penthouses ranking second. Honolulu offers a cosmopolitan lifestyle with high-rise luxury penthouses that feature sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean, Diamond Head, and the bustling cityscape, accompanied by the finest modern amenities.

3. Coastal Elegance: Beachfront Homes in Malibu, California.

Third place goes to the quintessential beachfront homes of Malibu, renowned for their breathtaking sea views, direct beach access, and opulent facilities, including expansive terraces and state-of-the-art designs.

4. Timeless Beauty: Historic Homes in Coral Gables, Florida.

Coral Gables is celebrated for its impeccably maintained historic homes, many of which display the intricate designs of Mediterranean Revival architecture, complete with verdant gardens and exquisite interiors.

5. Seaside Serenity: Oceanfront Estates on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

The most popular choice outside the usual triumvirate of states is Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. Here, luxury means oceanfront estates with private beaches, golfing, and picturesque views of the Atlantic.

6. Island Luxury: Waterfront Estates in the Florida Keys.

The allure of the Florida Keys is undeniable for the affluent, with its relaxed yet luxurious waterfront estates that come with their own docks and stunning vistas of the open water.

7. Lakeside Grandeur: Mansions on Tennessee’s Lakeshores.

Tennessee’s beautiful lakes, such as Percy Priest Lake and Old Hickory Lake, are coveted for their grand lakefront mansions offering private docks and panoramic water views.

8. Southern Charm: Beachfront Homes on St. Simons, Georgia.

Georgia’s St. Simons Island ranks eighth, with its luxurious beachfront properties that provide direct access to sandy shores and beautiful ocean views, embodying a tranquil coastal life.

9. Historic Splendor: Homes in Asheville, North Carolina.

Asheville is known for its array of historic homes, especially in areas like Biltmore Forest, featuring stately architecture, expansive grounds, and proximity to landmarks such as the Biltmore Estate.

10. Mountain Retreat: Lakefront Estates in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

Completing the top ten are the luxury lakefront estates in Lake Tahoe, situated at the Nevada-California border, offering private lake access and sprawling outdoor areas set against a peaceful mountain backdrop.

Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown warned consumers on Friday to be aware of companies enticing bettors with so-called “risk free bets” that appear more attractive than they actually are ahead of the running of the Preakness. The state’s online sports betting industry, launched in November, operates through websites and mobile apps.

The AG’s office said in an advisory that the fine print may contain limitations that negate promised benefits. Bettors should be on alert as online gambling has become a target for cybercriminals, the advisory said.

Consumers can check a list of sports betting companies or sportsbooks that have been approved by Maryland’s Lottery and Gaming Control Agency.

“Deceptive practices and scams have the potential to overshadow the excitement of sports betting and leave Marylanders vulnerable to financial losses,” Brown said in the advisory, urging state residents to “remain vigilant, conduct thorough research, and exercise caution to avoid financial loss due to misleading tactics.”

The attorney general recommends reading the fine print; checking consumer reviews and ratings with the Better Business Bureau; making sure to use official websites of approved, established sportsbooks; and checking conditions placed by sportsbooks that may limit how and when bettors can cash out winnings.

Consumers also should ignore online gambling pop-up ads and unsolicited emails, text or social media messages that could link to fraudulent websites, the attorney general said.

I call shenanigans on this one. If you don’t have the numbers, how do you know they’re significant? Sounds to me like you have the numbers all right but don’t care to divulge. Why? Because the savings are a drop in the bucket and there are other reasons for this change. Either that, or you really have no idea, but it sounds good to say “significant savings.”

I understand this isn’t a big deal, but it gripes me. Maybe I’ve become overly sensitized to doublespeak like this after years of cunning, artful and duplicitous speech from politicians. If so, it’s a sad commentary on the state of our culture.

— Walter Levy, Pikesville

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Despite losing that parlay, Culp was a winner that weekend, and he was back Monday with about $1,000 tied up in the evening’s games.

“It’s the thrill of betting,” he said. “Being at the edge of your seat because you know you got money on the game. That’s the only way I can watch the game, if I got money on it.”

Culp watched games in an area that was once Bingo World’s nonsmoking section, and later its special event space, and is now the establishment’s sportsbook. But soon, virtual sportsbooks will be available on Marylanders’ cellphones.

Maryland voters legalized sports betting in a 2020 referendum, following changes in 2018 to federal law. Physical sportsbooks have been in the state since 2021, but the mobile option has taken longer, frustrating bettors. Online wagering will finally begin Wednesday, as seven companies are both ready to launch and have approval from Maryland officials: Barstool Sportsbook, BetMGM, BetRivers, Caesars, DraftKings, FanDuel and PointsBet.

What was once legally available only in Nevada has grown popular, and over the past four years, most states hurried to allow sports gambling. Sports Illustrated, once just a magazine, and Hard Rock, once just a cafe, each have online sportsbooks.

Marylanders, like Culp, have been eager to legally bet and companies have been eager to woo them. Billboards in the state flash ads for BetMGM and then DraftKings, one after the other. DraftKings has enlisted former Ravens and Terps to promote their product with social media videos, and multiple online books are offering $200 worth of credit as a sign-up bonus.

With sports betting getting underway, a mix of negative and positive outcomes are expected. Gambling is addictive for some people and can be harmful, but there’s enthusiasm from gamblers and thrill-seekers who have long awaited a chance to legally bet from the comfort of their homes.

At Bingo World, a neon sign outside advertises that the BetRivers company that operates the sportsbook inside offers wagers on 30 different sports. The book has 26 televisions, 33 armchairs with built-in phone chargers, 24 high-top chairs, 12 betting kiosks and an ATM. For gamblers, like Culp, who visit sportsbooks most days, the legalization is more than welcome.

“It’s just adult fun,” he said, “without getting yourself in trouble.”

Eager impatience

The top question Rob Norton, the president of Cordish Gaming Group, said he’s received over the last year from friends is: “When will I be able to bet on my phone?”

Public comments reviewed at last month’s Sports Wagering Application Review Commission (SWARC is a state committee created to issue licenses) displayed the excited impatience felt by gamblers. “What in God’s name is taking so long?” one commenter asked.

In-person sports betting has been allowed around the state since December at locations such as Bingo World, Horseshoe Casino in Baltimore and Live! Casino & Hotel in Hanover. But it wasn’t until Nov. 16 that Maryland’s gambling commission finally approved the first round of mobile licenses, paving the way for online wagering by Thanksgiving.

Part of the commission’s focus, as mandated by state law, is to promote racial, ethnic and gender diversity. The application process was comprehensive; for example, “to broaden participation in the industry,” businesses had to demonstrate that at least 5% of their license would be owned by individuals with a net worth below $1.8 million.

“The language of the law which created SWARC has been challenging, and our commission has taken seriously its intent to enable diverse participation in this new industry,” chair Tom Brandt said during the Nov. 16 meeting.

The advent of mobile betting opens up more varieties of gambling. For example, it’s difficult to make in-person “live bets” — that is, wagering on a game as it’s happening — since a game’s circumstances might change while a bettor stands in line. On mobile, everything is instant.

“It opens up the door for a lot of our technology to allow for in-game betting, which is a lot harder to do in a physical location,” Norton said.

But the biggest change is convenience. Once mobile betting starts, rather than placing bets at one of Maryland’s eight physical sportsbooks, people can wager wherever they have internet service. That’s expected to substantially increase the number of dollars wagered.

Some gamblers said they’ll still come to the sportsbooks — for the social aspect or for the access to TVs. Others said they’ll wager from their couch. “I’ll be home,” said sports bettor James Miller.

It’s taken Maryland longer than any other state to offer online sports gambling, from election to implementation. Some states, like Virginia, took under a year.

“They should’ve done it a long time ago,” said Nick Clemens, a manager at Bingo World. “The public outcry and demand for it has been immense.”

‘The house is gonna win’

Will Hinman was introduced to his first bookie before a New York Giants game in the early 1990s when he was 19. He placed a couple of wagers, maybe $25 each, on the game’s outcome.

“Of course, I won both sides,” said Hinman, now a peer recovery specialist with the Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling. “That just started a long, 24-year relationship with sports gambling.”

Hinman became increasingly interested in betting, particularly on the NFL. He liked to have action on everything; his bookie once asked him if he realized he’d called in 88 plays that day. And although he wagered often, it wasn’t the financial aspect that was the most damaging.

“Don’t get me wrong, if I add up all my losses over the years, it’s disgusting. It makes me want to vomit,” he said. “But it was the time and the preoccupation. It consumed so much of my time and attention.”

He’d spend his time placing bets and thinking about his wagers and how much he might have to bet later to make up for any losses. Even when spending time with loved ones, he’d check scores.

In addition to a gambling addiction, he battled alcoholism.

He gambled his nest egg away, went through two divorces and eventually became suicidal.

“It just really reduced my self-worth to nothing,” he said.

A family member intervened and Hinman went to rehab. He’s been sober since 2014 and hasn’t placed a sports bet since 2013.

Now, he helps others seeking to limit, control or stop problematic gambling behavior. Gamblers seeking help can call or text 1-800-GAMBLER and receive treatment for no cost.

The Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling, which is affiliated with the University of Maryland School of Medicine, does not take a position for or against legalized gambling, but is preparing for more people seeking help.

“When you legalize and increase access to something that can be potentially harmful to some, it may lead to addiction,” Hinman said. “I would expect we would probably see an increase in calls. So we’re preparing for it.”

The Illinois Council on Problem Gambling said there has been an “uptick” in calls for help since sports betting was legalized there in 2020, and the Connecticut Council on Problem gambling has reported about a 125% average increase in monthly call volume since sports wagering began there in 2021.

Before Maryland legalized sports gambling, individuals had to drive to a state where it was legal to bet or illegally wager online using offshore accounts. The inconvenience limited sports betting’s popularity.

Mary Drexler, the Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling program director, said not only could the accessibility of betting from your home affect those currently battling addiction, it could also lead to negative effects for those who had never gambled, but start because of the easy access.

For the vast majority, sports gambling is simple fun and excitement. But it can also lead to “adverse consequences,” Drexler said, like anxiety, depression, financial difficulties and strained relationships.

Deborah Haskins, the president of the Maryland Council on Problem Gambling, said there is a “psychological experience” attached to sports betting. She noted that many sports gamblers enjoy using logic to try and profit.

Of course, winning is hard to pull off. From July to October, the “hold” at Maryland’s in-person sportsbooks — that is, the percentage of money that the book retains for each dollar spent by a bettor — was 16.4%.

“The bottom line is the house is gonna win more than you are,” Haskins said. “The house is always gonna win more.”

Betting on education

When Marylanders voted on the issue, they were asked if they favored the authorization of sports gambling “for the primary purpose of raising revenue for education,” and funding education has ostensibly been at the center of the push to develop the market.

And sports wagering has raised some money for education: 15% of sportsbook profits go to the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Fund. To date, sports wagering has generated about $5.4 million for education.

That’s roughly the same amount ($5.5 million) as companies such as BetMGM, DraftKings, FanDuel and the Washington Commanders spent to encourage voters to legalize it in 2020, according to OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan campaign finance tracking organization.

The industry’s contributions to education will, of course, rise as the popularity of sports betting increases. Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, a research firm, predicts that Maryland will receive $26.4 million from sports betting in 2023 and by 2027 could bring in $99.7 million. By comparison, the lottery contributed $673.7 million to the state during the most recent fiscal year.

Historian Jon Cohen’s recent book, “For a Dollar and a Dream: State Lotteries in Modern America,” notes that state lotteries are not as profitable as some claim. Lotteries became popular in the 1970s and ’80s — both because of public demand and to generate public revenue — and Cohen sees parallels between lotteries then and sports wagering now. He said lotteries “softened the soil” for other types of gambling, like sports betting, and provide a “cautionary tale.”

While “every dollar helps,” Cohen said, the prediction of Maryland generating about $25 million in sports betting revenue for the state next year is “just a minuscule amount of money compared to the bread-and-butter tax revenue.” Maryland’s annual budget is in the tens of billions of dollars.

“A lot of these glittery gold projections of all the good that sports gambling is going to do are more illusion than reality,” he said.

Taking that risk

Regardless of its contribution to the state, sports gamblers have been clamoring for months for the legalization of online wagering and soon — at long last — they’ll be able to do what nearly 70% of voters approved in 2020.

“The customers want it,” Norton, the Cordish Gaming Group president, said.

Sixty-six percent of Americans now approve of betting on pro sports, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll. That’s up from 55% in 2017 and 41% in 1993.

Enticed by the thrill of a victory and the captivating nature of selecting winning picks, gamblers are enthused by the prospect of a mobile option.

On Monday night at Bingo World, Leul Gebreyohannes watched an NBA game, rooting on P.J. Washington, Mason Plumlee and Kelly Oubre of the Charlotte Hornets to each achieve statistical benchmarks. Oubre didn’t, but Plumlee and Washington did. And Gebreyohannes was a winner.

Gebreyohannes doesn’t consider himself a gambler. Instead, he’s a sports fan who likes reasoning through outcomes and making sound decisions.

“This just spices it up,” he said.

Culp, however, said he’s not as much of a sports fan as he is a gambling fan. As he monitored a few of his parlays — he likes combining a few of the favorites on the same ticket — he said he isn’t concerned about losing a substantial amount of money. Eventually, he’ll win, he said.

“I love taking that risk,” he said. “There’s always something that you can get your money back on.”

The H-2B visa program, once a necessary vehicle for helping employers find seasonal workers for jobs Americans didn’t want, has not only lost its focus; it has become a racket for disreputable employers — particularly in the landscaping and construction industries — to exploit labor at the expense of industries truly in need.

It’s undeniable that some industries still need seasonal labor that’s tough to come by in a tight labor market. In its original incarnation, that included the hospitality, landscaping and seafood industries. Yet Maryland seafood processors aren’t getting the visa allotments they need.

Why? Because landscaping and construction contractors hungry for cheap labor have found loopholes to abuse a system that lacks oversight and strong penalties for rule breakers.

The federal H-2B visa program requires employers to show they made a good-faith effort to find workers domestically but were unsuccessful. They have to show they exhausted all avenues to find and attract workers, but still came up empty. In a capitalist system governed by supply and demand, making the effort to attract workers should mean that employers make the jobs more attractive by making them more lucrative.

That isn’t what happens.

Construction companies trying to get in on the cheap labor pipeline make token efforts to recruit American workers, often placing tiny ads in little-read publications urging available workers to call a toll-free number that’s never answered. They justify their claim of a labor shortage by citing record low unemployment.

The numbers on a piece of paper may tell that story, but the reality on the ground is starkly different. We know. We’re there.

The Mid-Atlantic Region of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) is ready and willing to provide trained, hardworking American construction workers in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and the District of Columbia. We constantly reach out to landscaping and construction contractors who have applied for H-2B visas. We guarantee we can meet their labor needs with our domestic labor force.

Most of the time, they don’t even call us back.

In 2020, when COVID-19 struck and the federal government halted the H-2B program, contractors signed up with us in droves. Once the program started up again, many of them laid off their American workers in hopes of securing H-2B labor again. That sends only one message: These companies simply prefer cheap, exploitable labor.

The landscaping and groundskeeping industry, which benefits from the highest visa allotment in the H-2B visa scheme, can pay an H-2B visa worker on average $2.59 and $3.37 less per hour than a domestic worker. In construction, employers cut wages by 20% for H-2B visa holders.

Once the workers are here, they are easy to exploit because they are solely dependent on their employer for housing and transportation, and the program bars the worker from leaving one employer for another. With little oversight and no recourse for workers, employers can force these workers to work long hours without overtime, penalize them for calling in sick, and make them labor in unsafe conditions.

Construction work has always been a middle class job and should remain so. As long as construction contractors can hire H-2B workers for less when there are ready and available construction workers locally, the H-2B program threatens to undermine that.

Congress needs to act to ensure H-2B works as it was originally intended. It needs to close the loopholes, invest money in oversight and ensure that the penalties for violators are sufficiently steep that companies can’t simply write it off as the cost of doing business.

Most importantly, Congress must take a hard look at the industries H-2B visas currently support and ensure that they are truly worthy and in need of this benefit. There are businesses that do need and should receive seasonal labor through the program. If the program works properly, those needs will be met, and not at the expense of the American worker.

Dennis L. Martire (dmartire@maliuna.org) is the vice president and Mid-Atlantic Regional Manager of the Laborers’ International Union of North America.

The total includes money raised by the lottery, the state’s six casinos, sports betting and fantasy sports wagering. The revenue for the last fiscal year beat the amount raised in the previous one by $120 million, the lottery said. Maryland’s fiscal runs from July 1 to June 30.

The lottery and casinos both contributed more than ever before to the state. Lottery profits totaled $673.7 million. Casinos contributed $832.3 million.

The lottery’s profits to the state in the last fiscal year beat the record set in the previous year by $6.3 million. Sales totaled almost $2.67 billion, an increase of $51.5 million, compared to the prior record set in fiscal year 2021. Scratch-off tickets have boosted the lottery’s growth in recent years.

John Martin, the Maryland lottery and gaming director, said the lottery, which will be 50 years old next year, has developed a variety of games to play over the years.

“We have a fairly equal product mix,” Martin said. “We’re not overly dependent on any one thing.”

The $832.3 million from casinos is an increase of $108.9 million, compared to last the fiscal year’s record total. The amount set aside for the Education Trust Fund was an all-time record of $611.6 million.

Total gaming revenue at the casinos was just over $2 billion, up about $242 million from the previous record set in fiscal year 2019.

The combined revenue of $1.5 billion from the lottery and casinos beat the $1.39 billion raised during the previous fiscal year.

The start of sports betting and wagering on fantasy competitions in Maryland raised another $5.6 million. Maryland’s first five retail sportsbooks opened in December. The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Fund, which supports public schools, received a total of $3 million from the $174.8 million in wagers that were placed in the last fiscal year.

More retail sportsbooks and online sportsbooks are expected to open this fiscal year. It is estimated that when the sports wagering program is fully developed, it will contribute roughly $30 million per year to education funding.

Maryland Lottery and Gaming is the state’s fourth-largest source of revenue after income, sales and corporate taxes.

Lottery ticket profits go to the Maryland General Fund, which helps pay for schools, public health and safety services as well as environmental programs.

Money the state raises from casino revenue supports education. Some casino revenue also is allocated to the communities where the casinos are located, the state’s horse-racing industry and small, minority- and women-owned businesses.

Sports wagering and fantasy competition contributions also are directed to education programs.

The Sun’s editorial depicted lotteries as villains and lottery players as “victims” who are incapable of making their own decisions. The misleading viewpoint was based on a series of articles substantially lacking in context reported by college students who established a premise and cherry-picked supporting data before contacting lotteries with transparently slanted questions — a violation of basic journalistic tenets.

Encouraging responsible play is a critical focus for Maryland Lottery and Gaming, which works with the Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling, the state’s primary source of assistance for problem gamblers. Maryland’s casinos annually contribute funds (more than $4.1 million last year) allowing the Center of Excellence to provide free counseling, available by calling 1-800-GAMBLER. The Maryland Lottery is also one of only 10 U.S. lotteries to achieve the highest level of responsible gambling certification by the World Lottery Association.

The Sun’s editorial references the concentration of lottery retailers in Baltimore City and claims a “troublingly high percentage of tickets are sold in low-income neighborhoods.” Lottery sales in Baltimore represented 13.4% of total sales last year — nearly 87% of sales happened elsewhere. Retail businesses sell products where people are and lotteries market to society as a whole just like any other business. Ultimately, each retail proprietor decides whether or not to become a lottery retailer.

The Sun also accuses lotteries of “transferring wealth” from poor to rich communities. Sales of Maryland Lottery tickets contributed $667.4 million to the state in the last fiscal year which The Sun claims was used for stadiums and reducing wealthy people’s taxes. In fact, $20 million in Maryland Lottery profit annually goes to Baltimore’s 21st Century Schools Fund. Additionally, the casinos contributed $531.4 million last year to the Education Trust Fund. The General Assembly determines how these funds are spent and The Sun can address budgeting disparities by asking lawmakers to answer for them.

The editorial closes by suggesting new investment to prevent problem gambling, but The Sun undercuts its own call to action with the observation that “even with reasonable protections, low-income players will continue to spend too much on lottery tickets anyway.” It is a contradictory argument that blames “victims.”

The idea that any entity should be expected to prevent problem gambling is a noble thought, but not realistic. For its part, the Maryland Lottery will always operate responsibly while also providing entertainment and generating much-needed revenue for the state’s good causes.

— John A. Martin, Baltimore

The writer is director of the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency.

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I don’t see it. Most Trumpers I know live comfortable middle and even upper-middle class lives. They do harbor resentments, deftly exploited by former President Trump, that are generally directed at others who have perceived advantages. When I ask if they’d trade places with those others, the response is usually, “Well, no.”

After a former colleague had a stroke, we told him how so unfair this was. He said, “Actually I’m lucky. To be born white in 20th century America is like hitting the lottery.” That profile fits a good many Trump fans, including Jan. 6 insurrectionists.

When Oriole manager Earl Weaver stormed out of the dugout to protest an umpire’s call, the stadium’s public address system often played Linda Ronstadt’s “I’ve been cheated, been mistreated, when will I be loved.” Earl might kick the dirt but would then get back to managing the O’s to another win. I wish more Americans would be like Earl and move on from their grievances. I wish they’d also spend more time appreciating the blessings of American citizenship and considering how to help others share in them.

— Herb Cromwell, Catonsville

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The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission, which determines if a business or individual meets state standards for a gambling license, began accepting applications Friday for mobile sports betting licenses.

Applicants also must apply separately with the Sports Wagering Application Review Commission, which ranks applications and determines if a license approval is in the public interest. That legislative committee, which can award up to 60 mobile licenses, is still developing regulations governing applications and the application itself. It has not offered a timeline for completion.

The gaming control commission’s announcement Thursday came a day after Republican Gov. Larry Hogan complained that the sports wagering commission’s process has been needlessly stalled by a series of bureaucratic delays. In a letter Wednesday to the sports wagering commission, Hogan called for immediate steps to allow mobile betting before the Sept. 8 start of the National Football League’s regular season.

The governor asked the commission to prioritize and award mobile licenses for any retail entities named in the original mobile betting legislation that already have been approved by Maryland Lottery and Gaming and to set a firm and transparent timeline.

“Instead of decisive action to implement the voters’ decision, you have allowed the process to stagnate and become mired in overly bureaucratic procedures that have needlessly delayed the state’s ability to maximize the revenue potential of this emerging industry,” Hogan said in the letter.

John Martin, director of Maryland Lottery and Gaming, acknowledged that each of the two separate investigative processes may not be starting at the same time.

“But it’s always been the plan for them to unfold on parallel tracks,” Martin said in Thursday’s announcement. “Some investigations could take several months, so now is a great opportunity for all potential applicants to get the ball rolling.”

In his letter, Hogan said sports fans are angry and discouraged that they still can’t place bets on mobile devices more than a year after the state approved sports betting in May 2021.

In December, five Maryland casinos began offering sports wagers from a state-approved catalog for various sports and competitive events. State approval of sports wagering at those casinos came in time for the NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl.

But mobile sports betting tends to draw greater revenue than in-person betting because of the convenience. Hogan said estimates show 80% to 90% of all sports wagers are expected to be made on mobile devices.

In his letter, Hogan asked the commission to use the same approach to mobile licenses that was used to expedite facility licenses awards last fall. The commission had voted that 17 retail entities designated in Maryland’s sports wagering law met Lottery and Gaming licensing qualifications.

Starting Friday, applicants could request access to a Lottery and Gaming Control online system that will complete criminal and financial background investigations. Prospective applicants were able to submit and upload information and documents, and Maryland Lottery staff were available to provide guidance.

“As we await the [Sports Wagering] application, we’ll be able to spend time assisting small businesses that aren’t familiar with the level of investigation that exists in sports wagering,” Martin said.

Potential applicants can get information at the Sports Wagering Licensing page.