One of the sponsors of a 2026 sweepstakes casino bill lost his re-election bid during the June 23 Maryland primary voting. Delegate Frank M. Conaway, Jr., who represents District 40 in the Maryland House of Represenatives, was one of three co-sponsors of House Bill 1226, which would have banned sweepstakes casinos in the Old Line State.
Despite support in the Maryland Senate for the bills, the legislation failed to gain approval in the House of Delegates.
WIth 75 of 75 precincts in District 40 reporting, Frank Conaway ended with 9.62 percent of the vote. The results leave him in fifth place, ending his chance for a fifth consecutive term in the Maryland House. Incumbants Marlon D. Amprey and Melissa Wells and challenger Tiffany Welch won their party’s nominations for the general election on November 3.
Tiffany Welch had 22.89 percent, Marlon D. Amprey had 21.95 percent, and Melissa Wells had 21.51 percent of the vote. District 40 sends three delegates to the state’s House of Representatives, which means Frank Conaway will not move on to the November election.
Conaway is a member of a Baltimore political family, so it would be significant news if he failed to advance to the November election. He has won in the four previous election cycles and has never lost an election.
A gambling-related super PAC, American Future spent nearly $1.9 million on campaign ads in the June Democratic primaries in Maryland. $645,000 of that money was spent against Frank Conaway and another Maryland politician, Hasan “Jay” Jalisi.
The funding for American Future came from Win For America, another entity tied to the US sports betting industry. The Baltimore Banner reports that DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics, and other sports betting companies fund Win For America.
Delegate Conaway said he expected a reaction to his voting record from the sports gambling industry, but was surprised by the amount of money they invested in campaign ads. In a June statement to Pamela Wood of The Baltimore Banner, Conaway said, “I’m surprised at the level of the super PAC thing.”
FanDuel and DraftKings spent on the Democratic primaries in New York state, as well. There, they spent $354,000 to boost the candidacy of Karen Hoak, who is running as a Democratic candicate for Assembly District 149 in New York.
Adam Bojak, one of Hoak’s opponents, told 7News Buffalo, “They are not allowing voters to come to their own conclusion. They’re trying to boost someone who they think would be more friendly to them once they get to Albany.”
Maryland House members J. Sandy Bartlett, Jamila J. Woods, and Frank M. Conaway, Jr. co-sponsored House BIll 1226 in January 2026. Alongside HB 295, the bill would have banned dual-currency sweepstakes gambling sites.
Both pieces of draft legislation made it through the Maryland Senate’s Budget and Taxation Committee, then passed a floor vote in the Senate. It stalled in the House of Delegates, which ended its 2026 session on March 13.
Delegates Bartlett and Woods still could sponsor a sweepstakes casino ban in 2027. Both won their primaries on June 23 and thus stand for reelection on Tuesday, November 3. Frank Conaway looks as if he may not be in place to back such legislation when the Maryland House reconvenes in January 2027.
