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Maine lawmakers are looking at iGaming legislation that would include mobile sports betting in the definition of internet gaming.
Sponsored by State Rep. Laura D. Supica, D-Bangor, LD1777 would allow the state’s federally recognized tribal nations – collectively known as the Wabanaki Nations – to conduct licensed iGaming statewide. The bill was filed April 21 for consideration during a current special legislative budget session in Augusta.
The bill does not specify which online casino games would be allowed, but it does say that Maine sports betting would be regulated as internet gaming.
iGaming is typically associated with online casino games, or games of chance. Sports betting is generally considered a game of skill. Both types of gambling would fall under the bill, which would define internet gaming as any “game of skill or chance offered through the Internet in which an individual wagers money or something of monetary value for the opportunity to win money or something of monetary value.”
Mobile sports betting was legalized in Maine in 2022 but has yet to launch. Should LD1777 become law, mobile sports betting would be removed from the state’s 2022 sports betting law and redefined under the proposed bill.
Fantasy contests and parimutuel betting would not fall under the definition of iGaming, per the bill.
Online Casino a Growing Segment of Sportsbook Brands
The Wabanaki Nations have exclusive rights to operate mobile sports betting in Maine under the state’s sports betting law signed by Gov. Janet Mills in May 2022, with a launch still pending. They would retain that right under LD1777, plus gain the exclusive right to offer online casino games statewide.
According to the bill, tribes would each be allowed to partner with one operator. That would require tribes to contract with a provider skilled at both online sports betting and iGaming if a tribe intends to offer both.
Tribes shouldn’t have much trouble finding operators. Many top-brand sportsbooks, including BetMGM, FanDuel, DraftKings, and BetRivers, are also involved in the online casino market.
Online casino is considered a better bet than online sports betting when it comes to revenue. iGaming generates up to seven times more revenue than sportsbook revenues alone, according to a 2021 story in Gaming Today.
“Online casinos are a massive growth opportunity for sportsbooks that can integrate the two,” wrote Gaming Today’s Chris Gerlacher in Dec. 2021.
LD1777 has yet to be referred to a committee, although that could happen as soon as this week, legislative staff told Gaming Today in an email Monday. The bill is likely to be referred to the House Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs, chaired by Supica.
The current special session is expected to last at least a few weeks.
Maine Sports Betting Rollout Slow So Far
Maine’s sports betting law passed last year also authorizes up to 10 retail sportsbooks, in addition to mobile sports betting through the tribes. Casinos (Maine has two commercial casinos and no tribal casinos), off-track betting facilities, and racetracks are eligible to apply for retail licenses, or “facility” sports wagering licenses.
But any sports betting launch is likely on hold for at least six more months as state gaming regulators grapple with draft rules and lackluster interest from sportsbook operators.
Maine Gambling Control Chief Milt Champion told the Portland Press Herald in early April that no sportsbooks had applied for an operator license between then and mid-February, when his agency opened a provisional application process for potential operators.
The quicker applications roll in, the quicker the state can launch, Champion told the newspaper.
“I was really looking forward to having a soft opening in June or July, and we’ll still work towards that, but right now with what we’ve received so far, it doesn’t look like it’s a process that would be rectified in that time frame,” Champion said, according to an April 3 story in the Press Herald.
photo by: Sean Pavone
