Lawmaker questions Maine’s failure to implement in-person sports betting two years after legalization

Senator Joe Baldacci, D-Bangor, has questioned Maine’s gambling regulator for the delay in implementing in-person sports betting, two years after the Legislature allowed casinos into the industry. 

Baldacci on Tuesday wrote to Maine Gambling Control Unit Executive Director Milt Champion asking him about “stagnation” around in-person betting since Governor Janet Mills signed into law in 2022 a compromise giving tribes control of the online market, Bangor Daily News reported.

Maine is taking longer than most other states to implement in-person sports betting. The tension highlights the care that was required to balance online sportsbooks with Maine’s incumbent casinos.

Baldacci had brokered an amendment to the 2022 measure to allow Hollywood Casino Bangor to conduct in-person sports betting. The only other casino in western Maine is Oxford Casino. 

Since sports betting was officially launched in the state in November 2023, roughly $126 million was wagered in the first four months with DraftKings dominating the market in a partnership with the Passamaquoddy tribe.

The report cited a 2022 estimate from the Legislature’s fiscal office which notes that the online side of the market was expected to account for 85 percent of the market. The law leaves the smaller share for casinos and off-track betting parlors.  Baldacci called it “both surprising and unacceptable that not a single retail operator has commenced operations.”

“The regulatory framework implemented by your office has proven excessively burdensome,” Baldacci wrote. “Many potential retail operators have decided not to participate altogether due to the onerous and unique requirements imposed within our state.”

Baldacci also noted that he heard from the Gambling Control Board but not Champion on various concerns, such as why Champion dismissed comments from the industry to try to speed up rule adoption and why there are more stringent surveillance requirements for in-person operators compared to mobile operators. 

The report further quoted a gaming industry expert who said Baldacci was right to complain about the regulatory delays. Gene Johnson, Executive Vice President of Victor-Strategies, an Illinois-based gaming consultancy, said other states have taken 177 days or almost six months, on average, to launch in-person sports betting after legalization.

“There is no way this process should have taken so long,” Johnson told the above-cited publication.

Champion oversees sports betting under state law, while the five-member Gambling Control Board has authority over slot machines and table games in casinos along with pari-mutuel wagering. 

Gambling Control Board Chair Steve Silver said Baldacci could submit legislation to shift regulatory responsibility of in-person sports betting from Champion to the board. “I have never understood the legislative choice to do that,” Silver said of the separate oversight. “I tried to raise this issue with the Legislature many times.”

Austin Muchemore, Hollywood Casino Bangor’s Vice President and General Manager, said in a statement that casino officials remain committed to talking with all parties to implement retail sports betting “as soon as possible.”

“We greatly appreciate Sen. Baldacci’s efforts to bring sports betting to Maine and his continued dedication to the people and business community in the greater Bangor area,” Muchemore said.