The iGaming Vanguard: What Bally’s New Annapolis Lobbyist Hire Signals for the 2027 General Assembly Session
By Barry O’Connell
After going completely dark in Statehouse lobbying registrations last year, national gaming giant Bally’s Corporation has officially broken its silence in Annapolis.
State ethics disclosures show Bally’s has retained veteran Annapolis attorney-lobbyist Bryson F. Popham.
On the surface, it looks like a routine corporate representation filing. But to statehouse insiders and gaming attorneys, this single registration is a major market signal: big money is officially positioning for the 2027 iGaming war.
While legacy brick-and-mortar casinos like MGM National Harbor and Live! Casino hold massive physical footprints, Bally’s operates in Maryland strictly as a digital mobile operator (Bally Bet).
By bringing on a high-level statutory and regulatory specialist now, Bally’s is signaling that it believes an online casino (iGaming) framework is coming to the General Assembly—and they intend to shape the structural rules before the first draft ever hits the floor.
Here is how Bally’s is maneuvering to secure its piece of Maryland’s next multi-hundred-million-dollar digital market.
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