Business

The gambling boom is growing — and its next move could put poker chips in Marylanders’ pockets. Just over a year after online sports betting became legal in the state, two bills in the General Assembly seek to give voters the option to legalize internet gaming, which is gambling via online slot machines, blackjack, poker and other casino games. Lawmakers heard testimony earlier this week from proponents, including casino and industry leaders, and opponents, including those concerned about the effects of problem gambling and addiction.

If there is a word to describe Constellation Energy’s performance in 2023, it would be one that CEO Joe Dominguez frequently uses in talks with analysts: “overperformance.” The Baltimore company (NASDAQ: CEG) recorded record profits last year, reporting adjusted earnings before taxes (EBITDA) of $4.025 billion for the year, which was above the top end of the company’s guidance range. Dominguez said on Tuesday he expects 2024 to be another strong year for the company as it continues to benefit from federal energy legislation, increased energy demand and a rise in data centers. Constellation expects to grow its earnings per share by 10% over the next decade, the company said.

One of the country’s largest producers of cannabis edibles is expanding to Maryland as the state prepares to give out over 100 new licenses. Oregon-based Wyld began selling its products in dispensaries across the state this week after building a cannabis production kitchen in White Plains in Charles County. Maryland stood out to the company because it offered an opportunity to get established early in the recreational market, Vice President of Marketing Ben Gaines said.

TRIBE, an innovative movement and wellness school that is the brainchild of co-founders Lola Manekin, Barri DeFrancisci and Gary Grisham, is set to open April 6 at 107 E. Preston St. in the Mount Vernon section of Baltimore.The group signed a full-building lease with MCB Real Estate for 6,000 square feet of space and expects to employ between 20 and 25 people at the space formerly occupied by Charm City Yoga.

For more than two decades, Billy and Soy Mettawiparee refused to take a day off from running their Waverly Thai Restaurant. Then, in December 2023, they were forced to vacate. What followed were two months of anxious cleaning and restless nights, as the couple behind one of the neighborhood’s longest-serving restaurants struggled to chart a path forward. Now, as of Tuesday, they have it figured out.

Maryland’s casinos, as well as international gambling organizations, are pushing for state lawmakers to establish an internet gaming market. The proposal has a powerful sponsor in the House of Delegates that should ensure it advances from its committee to the full chamber, though it’s unclear whether a similar proposal in the Senate will have the support it needs to advance. Voters would have to approve an internet casino gaming referendum on their November ballots before a legalized market takes shape.

Immigration has propelled the U.S. job market further than just about anyone expected, helping cement the country’s economic rebound from the pandemic as the most robust in the world. That momentum picked up aggressively over the past year. About 50 percent of the labor market’s extraordinary recent growth came from foreign-born workers between January 2023 and January 2024, according to an Economic Policy Institute analysis of federal data.

Federal and state regulators are suing to block a national grocery chain merger that would sell 10 Harris Teeter stores in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., to the company behind the Piggly Wiggly franchise. The Federal Trade Commission, along with nine states including Maryland, on Monday filed a lawsuit challenging Kroger Co.’s $24.6 billion bid to purchase Albertsons Companies Inc., alleging the merger would reduce competition and lead to higher prices for millions of Americans.