50:26 23-265-E/P (Reg .20, 34, 40, 41) EMERGENCY ACTION IN EFFECT 12/12/2023—6/9/2024
.40 Security of Funds and Data.
A. A sports wagering licensee shall comply with all applicable state and federal requirements for data security.
B. A sports wagering licensee may not share information that could be used to personally identify a bettor or their gaming habits with any third party other than the Commission, law enforcement with a warrant or subpoena or a credit-reporting agency when determining whether an individual is credit-worthy.
C. Funds in a bettors user account shall be held either:
(1) In trust for the bettor in a segregated account; or
(2) In a special-purpose segregated account that is maintained and controlled by a properly constituted corporate entity that is not the sports wagering licensee and whose governing Commission includes one or more corporate directors who are independent of the sports wagering licensee and of any corporation related to or controlled by the sports wagering licensee.
D. A sports wagering licensee shall maintain a reserve in the form of cash, cash equivalents, an irrevocable letter of credit, surety bond set forth in COMAR 36.10.14, or a combination of these in an amount approved by the Commission and sufficient to pay all winnings and awards offered to a winning bettor as described in COMAR 36.10.14.06.
E. A sports wagering licensee shall implement and prominently publish the following on its platform:
(1) Policies that prevent unauthorized withdrawals from a bettors account by a sports wagering licensee or others;
(2) Notices that make clear that the funds in the segregated account do not belong to the sports wagering licensee and are not available to creditors other than the bettor whose funds are being held;
(3) Policies that prevent commingling of funds in the segregated account with other funds, including funds of the sports wagering licensee;
(4) Procedures for responding to and reporting on complaints by bettors that their accounts have been misallocated, compromised, or otherwise mishandled;
(5) Procedures that allow a bettor to request withdrawal of funds from their user account, whether such account is open or closed, including:
(a) The sports wagering licensee shall honor any bettors request to withdraw funds by the later of 5 days after receipt of the request or 5 days after submission of any tax reporting paperwork required by law;
(b) The sports wagering licensee may decline to honor the request for withdrawal of funds for a reasonable investigatory period if it provides notice of the nature of the investigation to the bettor it believes has engaged in either:
(i) Fraudulent conduct; or
(ii) Other conduct that would put the sports wagering licensee in violation of COMAR 36.10.18; and
(c) A request for withdrawal shall be considered honored if it is processed by the sports wagering licensee but delayed by a payment processor or the custodian of a segregated account; and
(6) Procedures that allow a bettor to permanently close a user account at any time, for any reason, and by any reasonable means, including on any platform the bettor uses to make deposits into a segregated account.
F. If winnings are awarded to a bettor with a closed account, the winnings shall be distributed by the sports wagering licensee within 7 days.
G. If an account is closed on the basis of the sports wagering licensee’s good faith belief, after investigation, that the bettor has engaged in fraud or has attempted to engage in behavior that would put the sports wagering licensee in violation of this chapter, these winnings may be withheld and redistributed in a manner that reflects the outcome that would have resulted had that bettor not participated.
H. If a bettors segregated account remains unclaimed for 3 years after the balances are payable or deliverable to the bettor, the sports wagering licensee shall presume the account to be abandoned and shall report and remit all segregated accounts presumed abandoned to the State Comptroller.
I. A sports wagering licensee shall prominently publish all contractual terms and conditions and rules of general applicability that affect a bettors segregated account.
J. Presentation of such terms, conditions, and rules at the time a bettor initially acquires a segregated account may not be deemed sufficient to satisfy the provisions of this subsection.
