Maine Soon to Legalize Sports Betting?

After the US Supreme court overturned a federal ban on sports betting that was active ever since 1992, many states ran as fast as possible to turn in their bills and legalize this type of gambling on their grounds. One of them is also the state of Maine that plans on fully legalizing gambling on sports events hopefully as soon as possible.

Legal Betting in Maine

If everything goes well and if the bills get approved, (or at least some of them) Maine will become the second state in New England and eight in the US to legalize wagering on sporting events.

Around 30 states have their bills ready and waiting for approval, while the states of Nevada, Rhode Island, Mississippi, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and also the District of Columbia have already fully legalized sports betting.

Various Bill Propositions

In the Maine bills, there are different approaches to handling sports betting on football, baseball, basketball, and other games, both professional and college ones. One of them stands for giving Hollywood Casino in Bangor and Oxford Casino in Oxford a permission to offer this sort of gambling, while other is more up for permitting tribes to do so. Among them, there are also propositions to give wagers in this northeastern state the opportunity to bet online.

“The general idea is to establish a regulatory structure for sports betting in Maine after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling this past spring. It also gives the Gambling Control Board significant authority to regulate sports betting,” said Christine Kirby, a spokeswoman for Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash.

Finding a Happy Medium

The Main bills are yet to be fully written, but the titles have already been given by the Maine legislative staff. The laws from other states that incorporated legal sports gambling are still being researched, as the

lawmakers want to make sure the adequate regulatory framework is being used in this state’s bills.

Rep. Benjamin Collins, D-Portland mentioned for the press that there is still a room for discussion with the tribes about opportunities from incorporating this sort of gambling in their country.

“They still feel a little skeptical about that. This is not an opportunity for them to make a ton of money but maybe a little bit,“ told Mr. Collins for the press.

The Future of Gambling in the US

Although the prognostics for the Gambling industry are not looking bright in 2019, the US has made a groundbreaking change by lifting the 1992 ban and giving each state the opportunity to vote whether they want to legalize sports betting under their jurisdiction or not.

Americans, including the citizens of Maine and their legislative, believe that sports betting would turn into a multimillion-dollar market. According to statistics, the state of Maine takes around $55 million a year from casinos only. And imagine how much sports betting will contribute to that sum on a yearly basis!

Some of the states, like New Hampshire, have even been very innovative in their bill propositions. Besides legalizing sports betting, the government of this north-eastern state wants to create first standalone sports betting retail shops in the country. You can read all about it here.

Source:

“Maine Legislature poised to debate legalized sports betting“, Scott Thistle, pressherald.com, January 13, 2019.