The internet gambling legislation in Maine has encountered a setback, failing to gain approval in both the lower and upper chambers of the legislature.
The legislation was forwarded to the Senate on the ninth of April after it failed to secure passage in the House, an unusual procedure. The following day, the Senate declined the proposal and subsequently voted to postpone it, implying they could revisit it before the legislative session concludes.
The Maine online gambling bill is on the verge of being shelved.
This marks the second setback for internet gambling bills in state legislatures within a single week. Maryland’s legislative session concluded on the eighth of April without achieving legalization. Maine’s session is scheduled to end on the seventeenth of April.
Maine lawmakers initially rejected the legislation by a margin of seventy-one to seventy-four. Subsequently, a day later, senators rejected the bill by a vote of fourteen to twenty. The Senate subsequently voted twenty-seven to seven on the tenth of April to postpone the bill.
In May of two thousand twenty-two, Maine lawmakers enacted legislation authorizing sports betting, granting exclusive rights to the state’s four tribal nations. At that time, the tribes were not seeking legalized sports betting, and lawmakers were advocating for a bill that would establish an open and competitive marketplace through the legislature. However, Governor Janet Mills sought to extend a gesture of reconciliation to the four Wabanaki tribes, which do not possess the same level of federal recognition as most other tribes. There has been a long-standing discord between the state and the tribes.
Seven states currently provide online gambling services.
Under the terms of the accord, the indigenous groups possess the authority to provide internet-based gaming establishments in Maine. Nevertheless, state representatives are required to establish a regulatory structure for such operations, and the legalization of online casinos has proven to be elusive. Only a limited number of US states have taken this step.
The two brick-and-mortar gambling venues in Maine, managed by Penn Entertainment and Churchill Downs, would be prohibited from offering online casinos, as stipulated by the LD 1777 bill. According to the sports betting legislation, these two entities are also barred from providing digital sports wagering services. Both companies expressed their opposition to the recent online casino legislation.
The proposed legislation would impose a licensing fee of $200,000 and a tax rate of 10%.
“I do not believe this is the appropriate course of action.”
Legislators in Maine and other states are grappling with the concept of making a diverse array of casino games readily available to every resident within their respective jurisdictions.
Republican Senator Jeff Timberlake cast his vote against internet gambling in Maine.
“Essentially, this proposal implies that individuals can remain at their residences throughout the day and engage in slot machine play on their computers, and I do not consider this to be a suitable practice,” he stated to Maine Public Broadcasting. “This essentially amounts to an expansion of gambling activities in Maine.”
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