There has been plenty of back and forth in recent weeks on The Baltimore Sun’s opinion pages regarding online gaming, or iGaming. Online gaming turns your smartphone into a casino, allowing people to play games and gamble with real money 24/7 from their sofa.

In one recent commentary by Jeff Ifrah, a consultant for the iGaming industry, the author states that opposition to casino gambling on smartphones is “shortsighted.” He also said that the claims by the National Association Against iGaming of the drastic personal, societal and economic harms of online casino gambling are wildly off-base. As a steward of Maryland’s economy and advocate for its citizens, I have serious concerns about legalizing iGaming in Maryland and can see that it is a serious threat.

What is truly “shortsighted” is the danger of trapping our residents, especially teens, young adults and those in minority communities, in the crushing addiction and financial ruin that follows from iGaming. An April 2025 study by the University of Connecticut found that 72% of college students in Connecticut, where iGaming is legal, had gambled. The state’s college students were over four times more likely than the national average to suffer from “serious problem gambling.” Morgan State University, in a January 2025 study, found that “iGaming will cause severe public health, mental health, financial, and other problems in African American communities.” These include food insecurity, housing instability and links to depression, anxiety and even suicidal behaviors.

Another baseless argument is that legalizing iGaming will shrink or eliminate the illegal market. Multiple studies and plain common sense show the opposite is true. Legalizing iGaming expands the illegal marketplace. Constant ads for regulated online gambling desensitize the public to gambling and make it easier for illegal operators to confuse consumers.

iGaming will draw people away from casinos, adding to social isolation and harming Maryland’s six casinos that support tens of thousands of jobs for our citizens. The casinos have proven to be vital economic engines for our communities, expanding to include hotels and conference centers. Voters and lawmakers legalized gambling in Maryland in a measured and limited way. iGaming would go far beyond that mandate and cost jobs, economic benefits derived from the state’s brick-and-mortar casinos and even lives. iGaming would be a wild expansion of something that can cause the ruination of some of our citizens.

Ifrah’s citation of a study funded by pro-iGaming interests cannot change reality nor convince us of any benefits to legalizing online gambling in Maryland. As state leaders, we don’t enjoy the same luxury Ifrah has of ignoring the hundreds of millions of dollars in social costs that iGaming will inflict on our state, our local communities and Maryland families. Common sense, not special interest spin, must prevail.

Over the past two years, iGaming legislation has been introduced more than 21 times nationwide. Every state has consistently rejected it. Maryland should wisely continue to say no to iGaming.

Kathy Szeliga (kathy.szeliga@house.state .md.us) is a Republican representing District 7A in the Maryland House of Delegates.