A tribal-rights compromise bill that would limit the location of retail sportsbooks is opposed by Penn National’s Hollywood Casino, which would be required to limit its sports betting to its harness racetrack.
The bill would give the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy and Maliseet tribes control of lucrative online sports betting in the state, expected to account for around 85 percent of wagering. Officials of Hollywood Casino in Bangor, though, are objecting to an amendment to the bill brokered by the tribes and Governor Janet Mills that would restrict retail sportsbooks to off-track betting parlors.
The provision would mean Hollywood could only operate a retail sportsbook at its Bangor Raceway in Bass Park, which only opens seasonally. Oxford Casino, which does not own a racetrack, would be permitted to locate it sportsbook at the casino.
“It’s just such a marginal location that it wouldn’t benefit anybody,” lobbyist Chris Jackson, who represents the casino and its parent, Penn National Gaming, said of the raceway in an interview with Bangor Daily News.
Representatives of the tribes pushed for the plan, Penobscot Nation lawyer Alison Binney noting that Hollywood still controls the license for the racetrack, and that Maine’s lawmakers have long favored the casinos over the tribes.
A more sweeping version of the tribal-rights bill cleared a key committee last week, but observers say the compromise bill with the sportsbook amendment is more likely to pass the legislature.
