Managing Editor
Maine will become the latest state to legalize online casinos and poker as Gov. Janet Mills announced Thursday evening that she would not veto last year’s bill, as many had expected her to do. She cited the importance of the bill to the Wabanaki Nations’ economic development in explaining her decision.
The bill was one of several that ended the previous legislative season with a “pocket veto,” a procedural quirk of Maine law that allows the governor to postpone their decision on bills that pass at the tail end of the legislative session. Mills had only three days following Wednesday’s start of the legislative session to make a decision. Technically, she could still veto the bill today, but made an official statement yesterday indicating that she would not.
Posted to the official Maine government site, the announcement attributes the following statement to Mills:
This fall, I met with the five elected Chiefs of the Wabanaki Nations, who each spoke passionately about the importance of this bill in offering life-changing revenue for Tribal communities, as well as providing a form of economic sovereignty for their Nations. I considered this bill carefully, and while I have concerns about the impacts of gambling on public health, I believe that this new form of gambling should be regulated, and I am confident that Maine’s Gambling Control Unit will develop responsible rules and standards to hold providers of this new form of gambling accountable while ensuring that Maine’s tribes benefit from its operations. 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.
A Long and Uncertain Road to Passage
Legal sports betting swept most of the nation starting in 2018, after the Supreme Court struck down the federal prohibition against it. At the time, many expected that online casinos would see similarly rapid uptake. Quite the opposite has proven true. In recent years, many promising iGaming bills have stalled out, while those that have passed have squeaked through in convoluted ways.
Maine is now the most extreme example of that.
When LD 1164, An Act to Create Economic Opportunity for the Wabanaki Nations passed last year, there was widespread confusion about what had happened. The House of Representatives passed the bill in June, leaving not much time for the Senate to do its part.
As the session drew to a close, the Senate was deadlocked, unable to muster sufficient votes either to pass the bill or formally suspend it. As a compromise, Senators engrossed the bill — sent it for final printing — without enacting it. When the state passed its supplemental budget without mentioning iGaming revenue, it appeared the window had closed for the bill.
However, Sen. Peggy Rotundo exercized her power as Chairwoman of the Special Appropriations Committee to take the bill from the table and move that it be enacted “under the hammer,” meaning without a roll call. With no lawmaker willing to be the one to block it, that got the bill over the finish line.
Ordinarily, the Governor would then have ten days to make a decision. However, the fact that the session had already ended allowed the pocket veto option, leaving the bill in limbo for many months.
Given the objections of the state’s retail gambling industry and the negative political climate around gambling expansion, a veto now seemed likely. And yet, 2026 is off to a surprising and exciting start for online gambling hopefuls.
What Will the Maine Online Casino Market Look Like?
The Maine iGaming bill builds on the existing online sports betting framework. There are four federally recognized tribes in Maine, which form the Wabanaki Nations. Each is entitled to a single iGaming license under the terms of the bill.
Maine only has 1.4 million residents, however. For sports betting, at least, it appears not to have been a sufficiently tempting market for most operators. Only two of the available seats for that vertical have been filled, by DraftKings and Caesars.
Presumably, those two operators will claim two of the available iGaming slots. The question then becomes whether the ability to offer online casino games is sufficient to attract additional operators to the market. Taking West Virginia as an example, it likely will be. With a similar population to Maine, it has been able to attract seven brands (owned by five operators).
The state will charge online gambling sites a middle-of-the-road 18% tax rate, split as follows:
- 2% to fund the Gambling Control Unit
- 2% to the Gambling Addiction Prevention and Treatment Fund
- 2.5% to the dairy stabilization tier program
- 1.5% to the Opioid Use Disorder Prevention and Treatment Fund
- 2% to the Emergency Housing Relief Fund
- 5% to the Maine Veterans’ Homes Stabilization Fund
- 1% to the Fund for a Healthy Maine
- 2% to the School Revolving Renovation Fund
West Virginia’s online casinos currently produce about $350 million per year in gross revenue. Maine is slightly smaller, so, using that state as a benchmark again, each percentage point in that distribution will likely represent about $3 million in annual funding to start.
Is Online Poker Coming to Maine?
Legalized iGaming means that online poker is also legal in Maine. However, any state with fewer than about 5 million residents can only expect to attract online poker operators if it joins the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA). Otherwise, it simply won’t have enough players to keep tables running.
We probably will see Maine apply to join the compact, but based on precedent in other states, this is likely to be a multi-year process. Michigan — a much larger and more economically powerful state — took about two years from its market launch to the start of multi-state poker. West Virginia, on the other hand, took almost five years to join, and it was another two before the first poker site launched.
The fate of Maine online poker will likely depend on whether BetMGM or BetRivers occupies one of the two remaining license slots. Although already present in the market, Caesars has sold the WSOP brand to GGPoker. Although that deal allowed Caesars to continue operating existing WSOP sites in other states, it prohibits new launches with only certain unspecified exceptions, which may not include Maine.
Meanwhile, PokerStars has indicated that the U.S. is no longer a strategic priority. Having not bothered to add Pennsylvania to its multi-state network, it’s hard to imagine it jumping at the chance to enter a state one-tenth the size.
BetRivers, in particular, would likely be a driving force for Maine to join MSIGA, if it opened an online casino in the state. As an up-and-comer in the poker vertical, it has been emphasizing small states like West Virginia and Delaware, where it doesn’t have to contend with entrenched competition.
