It was a scene that no doubt played out similarly in sports bars across the region. On the day after Christmas, when third string Ravens quarterback Josh Johnson (Who? more than one person asks) throws a touchdown pass to put Baltimore up 7-3 on Cincinnati, the crowd at Sports & Social Maryland at Hanover’s Live! Casino & Hotel Maryland erupts. But then, minutes later, something curious happens. The patrons seem equally excited when the Lions take the lead over the Falcons in a meaningless game. In fact, cheers and groans are heard from every corner of this space throughout the afternoon, as they undoubtedly will this month during the NCAA Final Four and the start of the NBA playoffs.

Welcome to Sports & Social, Baltimore’s first sports bar in a sports book—that is, an establishment where people can place bets on sporting events. Here, fans’ loyalty is to the betting ticket they hold in their hand, not necessarily to their favorite team. Some may call it soulless, but in the state’s new era of legalized sports gambling, it’s a reality.

Sports & Social is a sports bar on steroids. Look around and you’ll see plenty of people drinking from a $60, 128-ounce “beer tower.” Most of them seem to favor Bud Light, but other less macro varieties, including a Live! Lager made by Devil’s Backbone in Virginia, are available on tap. The cocktail list is surprisingly sophisticated, and we particularly enjoyed the blackberry ginger margarita, made by the busy bartender with care, using tequila blanco, Fee Brothers orange bitters, ginger syrup, blackberries, and lime and lemon juices.

Foodwise, Sports & Social cooks up much of what you’d imagine at a sports bar: wings, nachos, sliders, and flatbreads. But there’s also some slightly more elevated fare, including a chicken avocado BLT, a blackened mahi-mahi wrap, and several bowls, including a Korean one with veggies, gochujang sauce, citrus soy sauce, and steamed rice.

If the bar is open, sports (and betting odds) are everywhere on the massive 100-foot media wall—which includes a 47-foot big screen—behind the bar. The bank of screens is so big, in fact, that if you’re sitting at the bar, it’s hard to see them all. The best place to be sitting, from a TV-watching standpoint, is in one of the comfortable theater-style seats in the front row of the dining area’s upper tier.

As the one o’clock games sped toward their conclusions, someone was cheering like it was the Super Bowl after virtually every play. It was an exhilarating, if not profitable, way to spend a Sunday afternoon. We all left pleasantly full, but only one person in our group departed with extra money in her wallet. Using her head—not her heart—she bet on the Bengals.

Gone are the days of the bookie, those unseen characters who took bets from gamblers on pay-phones or in shady backrooms at horse tracks.  Today, sports betting looks different—fancy, welcoming, and public.

Walk onto the carpeted casino floor at Live! Casino & Hotel in Arundel Mills, for instance. Over the tops of the slot machines and in prime real estate, a giant blue sign for FanDuel, one of the country’s top sports betting brands, stands out above a row of betting windows. And below 40 high-def televisions mounted above a fully stocked bar, there are more chances to try other wagering machines. This is the setting of Sports & Social, a $12-million, 200-plus-seat upscale sports bar that opened in April—and is about to become one of the state’s first legal sports betting venues.

“We’re ready,” says Rob Norton, president of Live! and Cordish Global Gaming, pictured, taking a seat at a high-top table overlooking the 13,000-square-foot space, with its dining booths, royal blue Bud Light taps, and largest TV tuned to the NFL Network. “Once the state processes are done, we’re ready to go.”

Of course, it’s been legal to wager on sports in Las Vegas since 1949. But recently, nearly 30 other states have adopted the practice. And now Maryland is hopping on the gravy train, too. Possibly by the end of the year—and in time for the NFL playoffs come January—the state will offer anyone 21 and over the chance to win or lose money legally gambling on sporting events at licensed venues like Sports & Social and the soon-to-come Caesars Sportsbook at the downtown Horseshoe Casino. (Legal online betting will come later.)

Similar to how marijuana lost its fully illegal status in the state a decade ago, voters overwhelmingly supported the idea of legal sports betting during the state elections of November 2020, passing a referendum that authorized it as long as a portion of the revenue would be used to fund public education. In May 2021, Governor Larry Hogan signed that legislation into law. Sports betting revenue will be taxed at 15 percent, with a projected $15 million or more each year to be invested in state schools.

In August, a new state commission said 17 businesses would be eligible for Class A retail sports wagering licenses—like the major casinos, as well as pro sports venues (although no sports books are planned at any of the stadiums yet), plus horse-racing facilities, off-track betting venues, and two commercial bingo halls. On November 18, the Sports Wagering Application Review Commission said five venues—Live!, the Horseshoe, MGM National Harbor, Hollywood Casino, and Ocean Downs Casino—could go live with in-person betting in 30 to 45 days, pending testing of systems with the state, including live demonstrations.

“We’re excited about it,” says Norton, who grew up in the Bahamas and Atlantic City as the son of a casino pioneer. “We expect that we’ll see a new crowd in here.”