Lawmakers in Maine are contemplating a invoice that may legalize on-line poker and different on line casino gaming within the state.
The proposal would give management of the trade to the state’s tribes. Consequently, the tribal leaders again the plan. Income from a authorized market would carry extra income to each the state coffers and tribal wants.
“Tribally owned and operated web gaming represents a perfect alternative to boost each tribal and state governmental income for the good thing about all Mainers,” Passamaquoddy Chief William Nicholas stated in the course of the invoice’s first listening to at a Veterans and Authorized Affairs Committee assembly Monday.
In line with native media, the committee will vote on the invoice subsequent week.
Industrial Casinos Oppose The Plan
Nevertheless, the proposal has obtained some pushback. Representatives of Maine’s two business casinos, Oxford On line casino and Hollywood On line casino in Bangor, voiced issues that the invoice provides the tribes a monopoly on the trade.
The invoice would mirror the state’s on-line sports activities betting trade. When the state legalized sports activities betting, lawmakers gave the state’s 4 federally acknowledged tribes unique rights to function on-line sports activities betting. Tribes partnered with third-party operators like DraftKings and Caesars Sportsbook to run the web operations.
The 2 business operators have been allowed to function retail sportsbooks, however most betting is completed on-line. The invoice would shut business operators out of a potential on-line on line casino trade utterly.
“Passage of this invoice, to be clear, would represent the best single growth of gaming in our state’s historical past with out the vote of the folks of Maine,” Hollywood On line casino spokesman Chris Jackson stated in the course of the assembly. “It will threaten amenities in Bangor and Oxford.”
LD 1164 would tax on-line gaming income at 16% and cost the state’s Playing Management Unit with regulating the trade. The invoice additionally contains provisions limiting advertising and marketing, together with “prohibiting deceptive, misleading or false ads.”
“For the Passamaquoddy Tribe and all the opposite Wabanaki communities, that is about equity and the flexibility to take part within the trade that already advantages others throughout the nation,” stated Rep. Aaron Dana of the Passamaquoddy Tribe.
As a state with simply 1.4 million folks, working a ringed-in market in Maine appears unlikely however might increase the scale of the Multi-State Web Gaming Affiliation. Pennsylvania can be anticipated to hitch quickly, and Connecticut legislators are contemplating becoming a member of the settlement.
Photograph courtesy of Shutterstock
