Maryland is best known as the home of the Preakness – the second jewel of horse racing’s Triple Crown – but it also has many other equine-oriented traditions dating to Colonial times.
It’s also a bastion of legal gambling, within casinos, sports betting, lottery games, raffles, and bingo, in addition to horse racing.
Online betting on horse racing is widely available in Maryland, with all four major providers of advance-deposit wagering (ADW) – TVG.com, TwinSpires.com, NYRABets, and Xpressbet.com – as well as numerous smaller operators accepting customers from the state.
These sites offer a range of signup bonuses and rewards for play programs as inducements to sign up, so it pays to shop around and find one that matches your level of wagering.
You must be 18 or older to place online horse bets in Maryland.
Maryland Horse Race Betting Sites & Offers
| Racebooks | Welcome Offer for Maryland | Other Promos |
| Nyra Bets | $200 deposit match | Odds boosters, daily offers |
| TVG | Get up to $200 back | Get a $25 Bonus for every friend you refer |
| TwinSpires | $200 sign-up offer | Free play daily & weekly options |
| Xpressbet | $100 sign-up bonus | XB Rewards loyalty program |
| 1/ST BET | $100 sign-up bonus | Rewards points every Tuesday and other weekly offers |
| DRF | Get a $200 bonus on the first deposit | Earn up to $50 every week |
| Hollywoodraces.com | $200 Sign Up Bonus | WINsurance Offers: refund up to $20 |
How to claim a horse racing bet promo in Maryland?
Horse racing betting features for Maryland
- Nyra Bets Maryland Features:
- Free live video streaming (HD live and replay) on Thoroughbred, Harness, and Quarter horse racing and race replays nationwide
- Free handicapping tips
- Swap positions quickly for Exacta, Tri & Supers
- Weekly live money handicapping contests with cash prizes
- TVG Maryland Features:
- TVG Expert Picks for everyday
- Free Past Performances Program
- Live streams from tracks around the US and beyond
- Money Back Special on select races
- Twinspires Maryland Features:
- First Race Freeplay: get $100 in Free Bets
- 15% boost on a winning Trifecta bet every Tuesday
- Exacta insurance: get a bet back of up to $10
- Live races and highlights of previous races, both on the website and the app
- Bet Back offers (receive a refund for your bet if the horse you bet on to win the race finishes in second or third)
- Daily Double bets
- Xpressbet Maryland Features:
- Horse racing’s leading loyalty program (receive two XB Rewards Points for every dollar you wager)
- Cash prizes in regular handicapping contests
- Deposit by mail
- Bet the horse races over the phone
- DRF Maryland Features:
- Unlimited DRF Classic and Formulator Past Performances
- Free Beyer Speed Figures
- Free DRF expert picks
- 1st/bet Maryland Features:
- Up-to-date news about upcoming races
- Unlimited access to the BETMIX products: Toteboarding, Free Daily Race Analysis, and “Race of the Day” Past Performance
- Hollywood Races Maryland Features:
- Free Expert Picks
- Loyalty program for top players (earn up to $200 in bonuses each week with the 2 VIP promotions)
Horse bet types are available online
In Maryland, you can place different types of horse wagers. The most popular online bets are
- Win (the horse you bet on must come first)
- Place (the horse must finish first or second)
- Show (the horse must come either first, second, or third)
- Win Place (places a win and a place bet in one bet)
- Win Show (places a win and a show bet in one bet)
- Win Place Show (aka “across the board”; combines Win, Place and Show into one bet)
- Exacta (you bet on horses to come first and second in that order)
- Quinella (the same as exacta, but horses can finish in any order for you to win the bet)
- Trifecta (three horses should finish first, second and third in that order)
- Superfecta (the same as trifecta but here you bet on four horses)
- Super High 5 (you have to choose the winner of five races in a row)
- Grand Slam (pick a horse to finish in the top three in three straight races, capped by the winner of the fourth race in the sequence)
- Parlays (combine multiple selections on the same ticket, even if the races aren’t in sequential order).
Banking
- Credit and Debit Cards
- ACH Bank Transfer / eCheck
- Wire Transfer
- Green Dot
- PayNearMe
- Check or Money Order
- MoneyGram
- PayPal
- By mail: Xpressbet / Hollywood Races
Maryland Horse Betting Overview
Neighboring Virginia was the first U.S. state to import thoroughbreds from Europe, beginning in 1730, but Marylanders were the first to organize a jockey club to oversee organized horse races in 1743.
The Old Line State also has a strong breeding industry and offers plenty of outlets, including steeplechase racing, dressage competitions, polo, and even jousting. It even has a population of wild horses, descendants of domestic animals that have reverted to a wild state, at Assateague Island National Seashore.
The racing tradition continues to this day at the state’s five racetracks, three offering thoroughbred racing and two serving up harness racing.
Historic Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, home of the Preakness Stakes, is the state’s premier thoroughbred facility. The track, which currently hosts two live racing meets in May and again in August, opened in 1870 and has been for years needed major renovation. That appears to be happening following the approval by the state Legislature of the construction of replacement structures in Baltimore and at the state’s other main thoroughbred track, Laurel Park, midway between Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
The Maryland State Fair in Timonium also hosts a short thoroughbred meet in late August and early September.
Maryland also is home to two tracks that offer standardbred harness racing, Casino at Ocean Downs in Berlin, which typically races from late May through early September, and Rosecroft Raceway in Fort Washington, which is 2022 will run twice a week in the winter-spring and again in the fall.
Fun fact about horse racing in Maryland
Maryland is home to one of the few steeplechase racing meets in the U.S. with parimutuel wagering: The Fair Hill Races at the Cecil County Fair. The races, held on the 5,600-acre former estate of William DuPont, Jr., since 1934, were canceled in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic but are expected to resume in 2022.
Popular horse racing events to bet on in Maryland
- Preakness Stakes
- Maryland Million Stakes
- Black-Eyed Susan Stakes
- Dixie Stakes
- Maryland Sire Stakes
- The Kentucky Derby
- Belmont Stakes
- Breeders’ Cup
- Travers Stakes
- Pacific Classic Stakes
- Dubai World Cup
- Melbourne Cup
- Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe
- Grand National
Horse Race Tracks in Maryland
- Historic Pimlico Race Course
- Laurel Park
- The Maryland State Fair
- Casino at Ocean Downs
- Rosecroft Raceway
FAQs
Yes, you can. The minimum gambling age in Maryland for playing online and at any of the state’s racetracks is 18 years.
Yes, it is legal to bet on horse racing online and via mobile apps in Maryland.
Yes, TVG offers wagering services to residents of Maryland.
Yes, OTB is legal in Maryland. Residents of the state can enjoy live satellite horse racing and off-track betting facilities.