With the clock ticking toward the end of Maryland’s legislative session on April 8, the state’s Senate Budget and Taxation Committee devoted about 15 minutes Tuesday to conversation around the online casino bill that passed through the House of Delegates on March 16.

And to the surprise of nobody who’s been following the Maryland effort closely, a back-and-forth ensued over the topic of cannibalization.

Del. Vanessa E. Atterbeary, the sponsor of House Bill 1319 — legislation designed to authorize and implement internet gaming — introduced the particulars of the amended bill to the Senate Committee, emphasizing, “We already have iGaming going on in the state of Maryland. It is illegal. You have folks going on their phones or their computers and doing iGaming with somebody in Curacao or somewhere far away, not here in the state of Maryland. I think it is incumbent on us to capture that market and regulate it.”