Maryland has a surprisingly deep connection to the history of American securities trading, particularly through Baltimore. The first Baltimore Stock Board was formed in 1838, followed by another securities board in 1844 that provided a marketplace for government, municipal and corporate securities. That second board ultimately became the Baltimore Stock Exchange in 1881, operating in the city for decades before merging with the Philadelphia Stock Exchange in 1949. The combined exchange later became the Philadelphia-Baltimore-Washington Stock Exchange before ultimately being consolidated into the Philadelphia Exchange in 1976. In many respects, Maryland’s relationship with financial markets has continued into the modern era through the growth of financial technology, or fintech. The state’s Office of Financial Regulation now maintains dedicated initiatives for fintech innovation involving areas such as payments, lending, virtual currency and money transmission, while Maryland’s Community Investment Venture Fund is specifically designed to support fintech companies developing new financial products and services.
That history makes the arrival of online prediction markets in Maryland particularly interesting, because the modern technology of trading is now colliding with something much older: wagering on the outcome of sporting events. Maryland officials have raised concerns that sports-related prediction-market contracts can function much like sports bets, creating questions over whether these products should fall under state gambling regulation, including the consumer protections and tax requirements that accompany licensed wagering. In May 2026, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown joined 41 other attorneys general in urging the CFTC to recognize state authority over sports-related prediction markets, specifically arguing that platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket allow users to make wagers on game outcomes, point spreads and player statistics. The fiscal issue is certainly significant—Maryland’s existing sports-wagering framework directs much of the state’s sports-wagering revenue toward the State Lottery Fund and the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Fund. But there is another dimension to the discussion that matters to public-health professionals and residents concerned about gambling and trading-related harm: access to behavioral-health care. Maryland’s own rural-health plan reports that rural behavioral-health providers account for only 3% of the state’s total behavioral-health providers, while the state has recently invested substantial resources in expanding rural behavioral-health access. That makes finding appropriate help particularly important not only in population centers such as Baltimore, but also in communities where specialized services may be much harder to access.
Prediction Market Help (PMH) has now added Maryland to its coverage area, and, as of late 2026, has conducted a comprehensive accounting of available virtual counseling services and outpatient clinics with physical locations throughout the state. The resulting resources are intended to help Maryland individuals and families identify potential avenues for support when gambling, sports betting, prediction-market activity or compulsive trading has become difficult to manage. Given the evolving overlap between financial technology and gambling—and the very different forms that problematic behavior can take—PMH’s Maryland coverage is designed to make it easier for people seeking help to understand the treatment options available both online and within their local communities.
