Wabanaki leaders try to expand online gambling to include casino-type games

On Monday, the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee heard testimony on a bill to legalize the practice and give the tribes exclusive control over the online gambling system. That arrangement is currently in place around sports betting, which was launched in Maine in 2023.

Chief William Nicholas of the Passamaquoddy Tribe of Indian Township argues additional money from things like online blackjack and craps could help ease tight budgets at the tribal and state levels and deliver on essential services.

"It helps us address housing needs, health disparities, elderly needs, things that are funded solely by the tribe," Nicholas said.

Last month, the Passamaquoddy Tribe in its partnership with the sportsbook DraftKings received more than $35 million in wagers, according to the Maine Gambling Control Unit. After sending out around $30 million in payouts, "adjusted gross receipts" amounted to around $4.7 million. 

But Nicholas argues there are many millions more caught in illegal online gambling that, if the practice is legalized, could become revenue to the state. "Those revenues should be benefiting Mainers," he said.

The push to legalize online casino gambling is not new. The Legislature shot down an identical measure presented last year. 

Then, as now, the fiercest resistance has come from the two state-approved casinos, Oxford Casino and Hollywood Casino in Bangor.

Dan Walker, a lobbyist representing Oxford Casino and its owner Churchill Downs, said expanding online gambling will hurt the business, which employs more than 350 people.

"This bill would create a gaming monopoly for the Wabanaki Nations with little economic benefit to Maine," Walker said, adding that in places where online gambling is legal, there has been a loss of brick-and-mortar jobs in the casino industry.

Resistance also came from lawmakers who feared the legalization of a "casino in your pocket" would encourage addictive behavior.

"There's just no way to really control it," Republican Sen. Jeff Timberlake, who sits on the Veteran and Legal Affairs Committee hearing the bill, said Monday. "This just makes it so somebody could sit on their living room couch and spend all sorts of money and have no control over it."

During testimony, a representative for the sportsbook DraftKings pointed out the ways in which the company can monitor concerning activity from its customers. Timberlake was not convinced. Afterward, he compared internet gambling to buying a "case of whiskey," and equated in-person casino gambling to drinking at a bar.

"If you drink too much, the bar shuts you down and sends you home," Timberlake explained.

A work session on this bill is expected in the next few weeks.

Author: Donovan Lynch