Maine Tribal iGaming Bill Passes Legislature but Faces Hurdles
A bill that would legalize iGaming in Maine by allotting licenses to the four tribes of the Wabanaki Nations has passed the state legislature but, due to technicalities with the state’s procedures, still has a ways to go to become law.
The bill essentially came out of nowhere after seeing little action for months, and features an 18 percent tax rate on adjusted gross revenue as well as a $50,000 annual license fee. However, despite passage from the legislature, it was placed on the “appropriations table,” an additional step through which only about 10 percent of bills typically survive.
“Last session, over a dozen bills died on the appropriations table — they just never came off,” Steve Silver, chair of the Maine Gambling Control Board, told Casino Reports. “It’s a weird mechanism of Maine government. Things can vanish down there for no real reason.”
Even if the bill were to advance, approval from Gov. Janet Mills is not a guarantee. Her office has not indicated a position on the bill, but it was opposed by the state’s Department of Health and Human Services as well as Silver. If it was vetoed, it would then need a two-thirds majority to override it, which appears unlikely.
Tribes Enter Prediction Market Legal Battle with Amicus Brief
Of the flurry of amicus briefs filed this week in support of New Jersey’s legal case against Kalshi in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, one of the most notable came from a comprehensive tribal coalition of nine organisations and 60 individual tribes.
The 45-page brief represents Indian Country’s official entry in the legal debate after long signalling its displeasure. Since prediction markets such as Kalshi began offering sports contracts over the winter, tribes have been among the biggest detractors. A public comment portal opened by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission earlier this year has been dominated by tribal interests. And in late May, acting CFTC Chair Caroline Pham hosted a call with tribal leaders, although not much came of it.
For the most part, the brief tackles a significant overarching issue: how prediction markets coexist with IGRA. The legislation has been mentioned briefly in other cases, but the tribal filing sought to address the issue with full context.
Enacted in 1988, IGRA is the federal framework for gaming on tribal lands while defining a gaming classification system. Classes I and II are less well-known, but Class III is traditional casino-style gaming, including slots and table games. Tribes contend in the brief that sports betting is also included under Class III, and therefore is under IGRA’s domain.
Sports betting is not defined explicitly in the act, but tribes pointed to 31 U.S. Code § 5362, which defines bet or wager under the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act:
“[T]he staking or risking by any person of something of value upon the outcome of … a sporting event … upon an agreement or understanding that the person or another person will receive something of value in the event of a certain outcome.”
This definition applies to “precisely what Kalshi is offering”, attorneys wrote. Sports event contracts “stake or risk something of value upon the outcome of a sporting event based on the understanding that the person will receive something of value based on that outcome” and therefore each contract traded on tribal land violates IGRA, they said.
Another key issue in this debate is whether IGRA is preempted by the Commodities Exchange Act, the primary legislation governing the CFTC.
But the tribes’ brief contends that “the CEA neither preempts nor conflicts with IGRA”. It further argues that the CEA “is only preemptive with respect to lawful transactions that fall under the CFTC’s exclusive jurisdiction”, which tribes allege is not the case with sports contracts.
It is “inconceivable”, attorneys wrote, to believe that Congress intended the CEA to be a federal sports betting regulation “without explicitly stating as much”. This is especially true “in the face of comprehensive statutes and regulations governing gaming on Indian lands”.
Opponents of prediction markets have from the beginning pointed to the CEA’s “Special Rule” amendment – 7 U.S.C. § 7a-2(c)(5)(C) – enacted after the financial crisis of the early 2000s. This rule states that the CFTC has authority to review and disallow contracts involving certain activities in the sake of public interest. Gaming is expressly mentioned as one of those activities.
Tribes contend in the brief that Kalshi has incorrectly interpreted the review process to believe that the CFTC must review and rule against contracts for them to be barred.
Instead, they assert that “§ 40.11(a)(1) is a categorical prohibition on event contracts that involve gaming or activity that is unlawful under federal or state law; there is no two-step process because the CFTC has already determined that such event contracts are contrary to the public interest. Additionally, this determination negates the need for a 90-day review of such event contracts.”
Chinook Winds Celebrates 30 Years
Chinook Winds Casino Resort in Oregon, owned by the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon, celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2025 and is hosting a celebration June 20-22, per the Lincoln County Leader. The weekend will kick off with performances by Jay Leno and Arsenio Hall, and will also include a fireworks show and other festivities.
