AUGUSTA, ME — Editor’s note: The attached video was originally posted by NEWS CENTER Maine on November 29, 2023.
In the first month after online sports betting was legalized, Maine gamblers wagered nearly $40 million, benefiting the state’s tribes, two merchants and the state government, officials said. That’s what it means.
A total of $37.5 million was spent on online sports betting in Maine from Nov. 3 through the end of the month, according to the Gaming Control Board, part of the Maine Department of Public Safety.
Milt Champion, director of gambling management, said the rollout had gone smoothly, with only a few complaints and no spikes in calls to the hotline for people with gambling problems.
“Everyone has been so well-behaved, it’s been really great,” he said Wednesday.
Democratic Gov. Janet Mills gave the state’s federally recognized Native American tribes exclusive rights to online sports betting after her proposal to expand tribal sovereignty failed in 2022. Offered an olive branch. Meanwhile, existing casinos are allowed to operate. -People bet.
Most of the mobile and online betting was done through Boston-based DraftKings, a vendor chosen by the Passamaquoddy Tribe. Caesars Sportsbook, based in Reno, Nevada, is a vendor used by the Penobscot His Nation, Maliseet, and Mi’kmaq.
That month, the tribe received half of the total revenue, about $2.3 million, and the state pocketed about $468,000 in taxes. The remaining gross proceeds were paid to vendors.
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