Editor
Maine could get regulated online poker this year, but things will need to go perfectly from here on for that to happen. The state’s online gambling bill appeared dead for 2025 but hopes have been rekindled thanks to a last-minute flurry of activity by lawmakers in both the House and Senate.
In poker terms, the push for legal iGaming needed runner-runner, and it has just hit a good turn. It might still be drawing thin on the river, but it’s halfway there.
The bill, HB 1164, originated in the House and was tabled in committee in April. For a time, that looked like it might be the end of things. However, it came back to life a few weeks later and eventually passed in the House on Friday, with an amendment raising the tax rate from 16% to 18%.
Getting it through the Senate proved to be trickier, and still isn’t quite a done deal. The bill has been engrossed, which would ordinarily mean there are only some formalities left before it becomes law. However, those additional procedural steps loom large because of how difficult it was just to get it to this point.
If the bill does pass, it will award exclusivity over online gambling to the Wabanaki Nations, a group of four tribes. They already hold the rights to conduct online sports betting. Legal online casinos and poker in Maine would be an extension of that framework and operate on similar terms.
A Confusing Day in the Senate
The bill received a mixed recommendation from the committee, with a majority opinion that it should pass with the tax amendment, and a minority dissenting.
When it arrived in the Senate on Friday, there was no immediate decision. It was left as unfinished business until Monday, when Senators remained divided on whether or not to accept the committee’s recommendation.
A key figure in the drama was Sen. Peggy Rotundo, who abstained from casting what could have been the deciding vote to approve the bill. However, when opponents of the bill moved to accept the minority recommendation not to pass it, she did not abstain, instead using her vote to thwart that motion and keep the bill alive.
In the end, the bill was engrossed “under suspension of the rules,” meaning without the usual roll call. Effectively, that defers the final decision to the next legislative step.
Once a bill is engrossed, it proceeds to the Revisor’s office to for final editing and collation. Then the House and Senate each vote once more to enact the bill before it goes to the Governor for her signature.
Under ordinary circumstances, enactment would be more or less automatic for a bill that was able to secure the votes to be engrossed. In this case, however, the vote was deadlocked, so it’s no sure thing. Either Sen. Rotundo will need to vote in favor of the bill at that stage, or someone in the Nay camp will need to be persuaded to switch sides.
Even then, there’s still the possibility of a gubernatorial veto lurking. The state’s retail casino operators strongly oppose iGaming and are expected to pressure Gov. Janet Mills to exercise her power to shut down the proposal.
What Maine Online Poker Might Look Like
Going back to the poker metaphor, the bill is drawing live, but there are still a number of bad rivers cards it will need to fade. Assuming it survives the enactment votes and receives Gov. Mills’ blessing, what would it mean for Maine poker players?
At first, the only regulated online poker game in the state would probably be DraftKings Electric Poker. That’s a three-handed, hyper-fast tournament format with randomized prizes, similar to PokerStars’ Spin & Go.
There are only two sports betting operators in the state: DraftKings and Caesars. Although Caesars still operates WSOP.com in other states, it has sold the World Series of Poker brand to GGPoker. It retained the rights to continue operating the existing network, but can’t launch any new sites without GGPoker’s approval.
In any event, Maine isn’t yet part of the Multistate Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA). With a population of only 1.4 million, it would need to join that compact to be a viable market for a full-scale poker room. Even then, some operators might not deem a launch worth it.
West Virginia has been party to MSIGA since 2023, but it wasn’t until this month that one operator—Rush Street Interactive’s BetRivers Poker—saw fit to bring its product to market there.
That probably makes BetRivers Poker Maine’s best hope of getting a full-featured poker room, unless DraftKings elects to branch out from Electric Poker. Although Maine’s sports betting market only attracted two operators, the addition of iGaming might bring more players to the field. If that includes Rush Street, and if Maine subsequently joins MSIGA, then a BetRivers Poker site would likely be in the cards for the Pine Tree State.
