There wasn’t enough time to make much progress on Maine online casino legalization this year, after the bill only appeared late in the session and minus one key sponsor from last year’s effort. As with the 2024 iGaming bill, this year’s LD1164 would have extended Maine’s online sports betting laws to allow for online casino games. That would have put the master licenses in the hands of the Wabanaki Nations, an alliance comprising the four federally-recognized tribes in the state.
Maine’s legislative session doesn’t end until June 18 and there’s no crossover deadline. So, although the bill only appeared on March 20, that still might have allowed nearly two months to see some movement. However, the attempt never really got out of the gates. In a work session on April 7, the bill was tabled by the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee. It will carry over into 2026 and may get resurrected at that point, but the effort appears dead for 2025.
Disappointing 2025 result after signs of promise in 2024
While this year’s bill failed quickly, the 2024 effort nearly made it to the finish line. It required some amendments and negotiations to make it through the Senate. After that, however, it ended up just a few votes shy in the House.
The 2025 effort began in the House of Representatives. There was some hope that with a little work, a few nays could be flipped to yeas and get the bill through. Then it would only need re-approval in the Senate.
However, one worrisome sign was that Rep. Laura Supica, who spearheaded last year’s effort, didn’t put her name to the bill this time around.
The biggest difference between the 2024 bill and this year’s was an increase in the proposed tax rate, from 10% to 16%. The additional money would have gone to veterans’ housing, gambling harm mitigation, and opioid addiction services.
Increasing the state’s share of the proceeds might be the sort of thing to persuade a few fence-sitters. However, the state’s retail casino operators—PENN Entertainment and Churchill Downs Inc.—oppose the effort, which makes things challenging.
Churchill Downs made its play for an iGaming presence with TwinSpires, which discontinued those operations in 2022. PENN continues to offer online sports betting and casino gaming with its ESPN Bet and Hollywood brands but with only middling success. To date, it hasn’t captured as much market share as its investors would like, especially given the amount it spent on the ESPN partnership.
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