Maine Tribes Push for Online Casino, Poker Monopoly

Posted on: April 2, 2025, 04:17h. 

Last updated on: April 2, 2025, 04:41h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More

Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

• Maine tribes push for exclusive online gaming rights.
• Casinos argue online gaming hurts land-based revenue.
• Bill aims to address tribal economic disadvantages.
  

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A bill that would allow Maine’s federally four recognized tribes to offer online poker and casino table games would constitute “the greatest single expansion of gaming in our state’s history without the vote of the people of Maine,” according to a spokesperson for the Hollywood Casino in Bangor.

Chris Jackson was voicing the commercial gaming industry’s opposition to the legislation (An Act to Create Economic Opportunity for the Wabanaki Nations Through Internet Gaming) at a meeting of the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee on Monday.

Redressing the Balance

The bill, also known as HP 769, would create an online gaming monopoly for the state’s four Wabanaki tribes, who were handed exclusivity on mobile sports betting by legislation passed in 2022. A similar tribal online casino bill was narrowly defeated in the House last year, by 74-71.

The new bill is part of an effort to redress the balance for the tribes, which were previously denied gaming rights.

Under the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act (MICSA) of 1980, the tribes were afforded a narrower version of sovereignty, which didn’t include the right to organize gaming on their lands. Currently, tribal reservations are treated like municipalities, which means they are subject to state laws.

‘Economic Crisis’

Needless to say, the bill is backed by the four tribes – the Penobscot Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe, the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, and the Mi’kmaq Nation, collectively known as the Wabanaki Confederation.

For the Passamaquoddy Tribe and all the other Wabanaki communities, this is about fairness and the ability to participate in the industry that already benefits others across the country,” Rep. Aaron Dana, a member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe, told the committee Monday, as reported by Spectrum News.

Rep. Ambureen Rana (D-Bangor) said the tribes “face an ongoing economic crisis” and “had not enjoyed anywhere near the level of economic growth as that of other tribes in this country.”

Casino Pushback

But Maine’s two commercial casinos in Bangor and Oxford are pushing back. They believe online gaming would cannibalize land-based gaming revenues. The casinos paid $70.1 million in taxes to the state in 2023, according to the American Gaming Association.

HP 769 would require the tribes to pay 16% of gaming revenue to the state, which will be directed to gambling addiction programs and veterans’ homes, among other good causes.