Maine iGaming Bill Clears Legislature, Governor’s Veto Lurks

Posted on: June 17, 2025, 08:43h. 

Last updated on: June 17, 2025, 09:06h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.
  • Lawmakers in Maine have passed legislation to allow iGaming
  • The bill would provide the state’s tribes with online casino privileges
  • Gov. Janet Mills could veto the iGaming statute

The Maine State Legislature has approved legislation to authorize online casino gambling.

Maine iGaming online casino Jane Mills
Maine Gov. Janet Mills swears in the newly elected members of the Legislature on Dec. 7, 2022. Mills is likely to issue a veto on legislation passed this week by the Maine Legislature that seeks to provide Maine’s Wabanaki Nations with the exclusive rights to iGaming. (Image: Governor Janet Mills)

Following a stalemate in the Senate Monday night regarding whether iGaming revenue should be taxed at 16% or 18%, leadership in the upper chamber motioned for the Legislature to take a roll call on recommendations from the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee regarding Legislative Document 1164/House Paper 769.

The chambers accepted the committee’s endorsement of the legislation led by Rep. Ambureen Rana (D-Bangor).

It was earlier this month when the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee resurrected the iGaming bill that it had shelved before the Legislature’s March 20 adjournment. After Gov. Janet Mills (D) called lawmakers back to the State House in Augusta for a special session to find more common ground regarding the state’s two-year budget plan, the committee reconsidered the iGaming statute, as it could generate new tax revenue.

iGaming Bill Details

The Legislature agreed to provide the four Wabanaki Nations tribes — the Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot — the exclusive rights to operate online casino games through third-party partners. The tribes aren’t allowed to run land-based slot machines and/or table games, but did obtain the exclusive rights to online sports betting in 2022 through state legislation.

Maine’s 1980 Indian Claims Settlement Act treats the Wabanaki Nations more like municipalities than sovereign nations. The tribes have persistently tried to enter into Class III gaming compacts with the state to allow them to open land-based casinos to no avail. The tribes, however, do operate bingo halls.

Legislative Document 1164/House Paper 769 would allow each of the four tribes to select one iGaming partner to conduct iGaming on its behalf. The state would take 16% of each operation’s gross gaming revenue. The tribes and their selected partners, FanDuel and DraftKings, for example, would enter into revenue-sharing arrangements on their own terms.

Tribal interests say iGaming would help the nations lay a foundation for self-reliance and complement their online sports betting operations. State fiscal projections estimate the state could collect around $3.6 million annually from iGaming at a 16% tax rate. That means the tribes and their iGaming partners could stand to keep approximately $18.9 million a year from online casino games.

Opposition Ahead 

The state’s two commercial casino operators, Penn Entertainment and Churchill Downs, which respectively operate Hollywood Casino Bangor and Oxford Casino Hotel, oppose allowing the tribes to conduct internet gambling. The two land-based casinos support more than 3,200 jobs and generated $61 million in state gaming taxes last year.

The casinos will no doubt call on Mills to veto the tribal iGaming bill. The governor herself has expressed opposition in the past to expanded gaming, and the state’s Department of Health and Human Services opposes the online gambling effort because it incentivizes additional gambling.

Mills’ press secretary declined to share an official comment from the governor on the statute passing the Legislature, saying only that the governor is “monitoring the bill.”