Chavdar Vasilev is a gambling news writer with several years of experience in the iGaming industry. He started creating promotional content but soon found he loved reporting on the industry itself. Since then, he’s delivered...
Read Full BioMaine gamblers will have to wait at least until 2026 to learn whether online casinos will become legal, as Gov. Janet Mills has declined to sign or veto an iGaming bill passed in June.
The bill, LD 1164, would grant the state’s four federally recognized tribes —the Penobscot Nation, Passamaquoddy Tribe, Maliseet Nation, and Mi’kmaq Nation —a monopoly over iGaming, similar to the current sports betting model in the state.
Each tribe would receive one license and could partner with a third-party operator. The tribes currently work with DraftKings and Caesars Entertainment for sports betting, meaning these partnerships are likely to expand to iGaming as well.
The proposed tax rate on iGaming revenue is 18%.
A Complicated Legislative Journey
The Senate passed the proposed legislation on June 25, one week after the House, sending the measure to the governor’s desk.
The bill’s path was anything but ordinary. Lawmakers initially tabled it in April. However, the House resurrected it and passed it in a special legislative session in June. The Senate then also advanced the measure as “to be engrossed as amended.”
That typically signals a bill is on track for passage. However, because the Senate advanced it without a majority roll-call vote, LD 1164 proceeded directly to the enactment stage.
The House enacted it straight away, but the Senate placed it on the Special Appropriations Table. The Senate’s decision effectively paused the progress until the state’s budget-writing committee approved further action.
After a week sitting on the Special Appropriations Table, the bill was removed, and the Senate ultimately passed it.
Still, even though the legislature passed it, speculations started circulating that the governor might veto it. She had not commented on it, but Mills has a history of vetoing gambling bills. Previous vetoes include a sports betting proposal in 2020 and a tribal retail casino bill in 2021.
Additionally, the governor’s administration, including the Maine Department of Health and Human Services and Maine Gambling Control Board Chair Steve Silver, testified against the bill in committee. They raised concerns about gambling addiction and job losses in the retail sector.
Mills Decides To Delay Bill Until 2026
In Maine, once both legislative chambers pass a bill and present it to the Governor, she has 10 days (excluding Sundays) to either sign it or veto it. The Governor can also allow it to become a law without a signature. However, that’s only if the Legislature is still in session.
If the Legislature has adjourned (as is the case now), Mills’s inaction results in a “pocket veto”, and the bill does not become law.
The 10-day deadline for LD 1164 expired on July 7. On the following day, the governor’s office released a list of 60 bills, including the iGaming bill, on which Mills has decided not to take any action.
That inaction effectively kills the bill for 2025. Still, the good news for Maine gamblers is that it does not entirely end its prospects. Under Maine law, LD 1164 will be held over to the next legislative session. Lawmakers will reconvene in January 2026.
Once the Legislature reconvenes in January 2026, the governor will have three days to sign, veto, or take no action on the bill. If she fails to act again, the bill will automatically become law.
