Maine’s new online casino market will be controlled by tribes after Gov. Janet Mills said Thursday she will allow a bill to go into law after delaying a decision for months.
The measure was among 61 bills that the Maine Legislature passed last year but were held up by the Democratic governor. Her administration opposed the initial bill in March, but she said in a statement that she decided to back it after talking with chiefs in the fall.
“It has always been my strong desire to work with [tribal] leaders to improve the lives and livelihoods of the Wabanaki Nations, and it is my hope that this new revenue will do just that,” she said.
Maine’s latest expansion of legalized gambling comes after a 2022 law gave control of a mobile sports betting market to the four federally recognized tribes here. While nearly 40 states have legalized sports betting since a landmark 2018 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, online casinos are only regulated in seven states.
The sports betting law from nearly three years ago marked a concession to tribes from Mills, who has generally resisted a broader push for sovereignty. Her top gambling regulator testified against an initial version of the online casino bill last spring, saying the governor’s administration was not in favor of any gambling expansion.
The Maine Gambling Control Board issued a letter to Mills last month saying she should veto the bill. Casinos and their allies were speaking out in the days before Mills made her decision.
Earlier this week, an industry-aligned group that includes Churchill Downs, the owner of Oxford Casino, released polling showing a majority of Mainers opposed to this form of gambling. In a statement after Mills released her decision, that group noted her U.S. Senate primary against Graham Platner, a progressive who has run to her left on tribal issues.
“While only [Mills] can explain her change of heart, it is difficult to view this decision as anything other than a political calculation rather than a policy driven by evidence or public interest,” Leo Rommel, a spokesperson for the National Association Against iGaming, said in a statement.