The sports betting law approved by the Maine legislature takes effect August 8, but if you expect rules and regulations to be in place and applications approved before the 2022 NFL season ends, you are probably out of luck.
If you expected to place the first bet during the 2023 NFL season, you also may be out of luck.
Milt Champion, executive director of the Maine Gambling Control Unit, is looking at January 2024 by the time the agency sorts out the rules, according to the Associated Press.
“This is not an easy process,” Champion said. “We’re not trying to put this off. We just want to do it right.”
Native American tribes have the exclusive rights for all online sports betting, with casinos and off-track betting parlors settling for in-person exclusivity. As anybody who has followed legalization of sports betting can attest, more than 85 percent of the revenue comes from online wagers.
The move to let the tribes corral all the mobile revenue could be an olive branch after Governor Janet Mills threatened a veto of their proposal for greater sovereignty.
