Lawmakers in Maine authorised a invoice Wednesday that might giftwrap a future cell sports activities betting marketplace for the state’s 4 acknowledged tribes. However a late modification, which had the blessing of the tribes, would enable the state’s two casinos to supply in-person retail betting at their properties.
Gov. Janet Mills (D), above, hopes cell sports activities betting will assist enhance relations between the State of Maine and the tribes who reside there which were denied gaming rights up to now. (Picture: Forbes)
The Judiciary Committee, which consists of members of the Home and Senate, superior the invoice by an 8-6 vote.
Sports activities betting is only one side of the laws that finally seeks to supply the tribes modest sovereignty good points. This contains the elimination of sure state gross sales taxes and state earnings taxes inside their territories. The package deal was brokered between the tribes and Gov. Janet Mills (D).
Throughout her election marketing campaign, Mills promised to redress a few of the imbalances between tribal sovereign rights in Maine and people loved by tribes in different states.
However final 12 months, she vetoed a invoice that might have given tribes the identical rights as most Native American teams, together with the appropriate to supply gaming on their lands. She known as the laws “flawed.”
Uncooked Deal
Some observers imagine Native American tribes obtained a uncooked deal in Maine. Below the federal Indian Gaming Regulation Act, 1988 (IGRA), tribes are typically permitted to supply Class II gaming, outlined as bingo and non-banked card video games like poker, with out state approval. That’s supplied these video games are authorized elsewhere within the state, which is the case in Maine.
However three of the 4 tribes – the Passamaquoddy, the Penobscot, and the Maliseet – had been acknowledged by the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act in 1980. This stipulated that federal Indian legislation wouldn’t apply to those tribes after 1980 except the legislation talked about Maine particularly, which IGRA didn’t.
The fourth, the Aroostook, gained its standing in 1991, three years too late for IGRA, which typically solely applies to tribes that had been already acknowledged on the time of its enactment.
The Mills administration hopes that handing the tribes management of the profitable cell betting market will go a way in direction of redressing this inequality. The Maine Playing Management Unit estimates 85% of all sports activities bets will probably be made by way of cell as soon as the market launches, eclipsing the retail phase.
Preventing Over Crumbs
The state’s two casinos, the Oxford On line casino and the Hollywood On line casino and Raceway in Bangor, have opposed the invoice. And at the least one nonetheless opposes it, regardless of the retail betting concession connected yesterday.
As reported by The Bangor Every day Information, Chris Jackson, a lobbyist for Penn Nationwide, which owns the Hollywood On line casino, complained that the modification would prohibit sports activities betting to its close by harness observe, which is seasonal. In the meantime, the Oxford On line casino, which has no racetrack, might supply betting on the on line casino itself, he famous.
Penobscot Nation lawyer Alison Binney shot again that industrial on line casino pursuits had all the time been favored over the pursuits of tribes within the state. She added that the tribes themselves provided the concession to assist industrial tracks.
One lawmaker questioned why the casinos had been a part of a dialog about tribal gaming rights in any respect.
“The purpose of this was to provide the tribes entry to cell betting. That’s my solely curiosity on this invoice,” mentioned Rep. Lois Galgay Reckitt (D-South Portland), as reported by The Portland Press Herald.
“I’ve zero sympathy to Hollywood On line casino,” he added.
