There is life for legal sports betting in Maine, as legislators in the Pine Tree State have a regulated-wagering measure on the brink of becoming law.
The Maine Senate on Tuesday voted 23 to 11 in favor of a bill that would allow for both retail and online sports betting in the New England state.
A majority in the House of Representatives has lent its support as well to the legislation (and the chamber on Tuesday concurred with a Senate amendment to the bill), which still requires the signature of Gov. Janet Mills before the legal wagering can begin.
In-person betting would be allowed at casinos and off-track betting facilities under the proposed legislation. Meanwhile, internet-based wagering would be controlled by the state’s four federally recognized Native American tribes, who could partner with one mobile sportsbook operator apiece (such as DraftKings or FanDuel).
“With respect to mobile sports wagering, the Legislature finds that, if conducted by federally recognized Indian tribes in the State, mobile sports wagering will serve as an effective economic development tool for tribal governments and tribal members and will provide economic stimulus to rural areas of the State,” a summary of the bill states.
Join the club
If the measure becomes law, it would add Maine to the growing ranks of U.S. states with legal sports betting. New England neighbors such as Connecticut have already authorized online sportsbooks, and Canadian provinces are now offering single-game wagering after a relatively recent legislative tweak.
Bettors would have to be 21 or older and physically located in Maine to wager. Betting markets could be offered on professional, college, and amateur sports, minus any games involving Maine's colleges and universities. Sports-betting revenue would be subject to a 10% tax rate.
Ten brick-and-mortar sportsbook licenses could be awarded in the state, which would be valid for four years and come with a $4,000 fee. The four tribes are each eligible for a single mobile sports wagering license with a similar four-year term and a $200,000 fee.
But the road to legalization in Maine hasn’t been a straight line, and it could still take a few more twists and turns.
Mills vetoed a sports-betting bill in 2020, and a similar measure was advanced in 2021 by the legislature before getting stuck on the Senate’s “Special Appropriations Table,” which is where the latest measure has landed. Bills that can affect state revenues are placed on the table, where they can be reviewed by a committee and either passed, amended to tweak any costs, or killed, according to an explainer from the state government.
A package deal
Furthermore, the latest legislative attempt to legalize sports betting in Maine is a package deal, as it contains provisions dealing with tribal-state relations and taxes. That is part of a broader debate over tribal sovereignty, as a 1980 law caused the state’s Native American tribes to miss out on legal gambling opportunities, among other things.
A summary of the bill making its way through the legislature right now states “that authorizing the federally recognized Indian tribes in the State to conduct mobile sports wagering is fair and equitable because those Indian tribes previously have been excluded from conducting most forms of gaming in the State.”
