Maine Legislators Pave the Way for Legal Sports Betting

On Friday last week, The Legislature Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs scrapped three out of 4 bills that were introduced in the current legislative session for the legalization of sports betting in the state. In contrast, the piece introduced by Sen. Louis Luchini is said to favor an untethered bill cut and will be forwarded to the lawmakers to be worked upon.

While all four bills spoke the same language of the legalization of sports betting, only one saw the light. Introducing different bills to the committee could also allow them to look for ways to permit licenses to business houses and administer sports betting.

But the biggest barrier that remains for the legislators is to either agree upon a tethered or an untethered model of sports betting. At the same time, last month, a spokesperson for Penn National Gaming testified supporting the tethered model.

For those who are oblivious about these wagering models, the tethered model states that the entities who own casino and race tracks can receive a sports wagering license since they have a physical location in the state and can also offer mobile gaming options to their customers.

The Untethered model allows mobile app companies to run betting apps in the state even though they don’t have a physical location.

It is very important to see if the Lawmakers stick to the untethered model proposed by Sen. Louis Luchini or follow the tethered one.

For some, it may seem like everything is heading in the right direction, although the uncertainty of the final bill getting approval from Maine’s Governor still lies on her desk.

Last year Gov. Janet Mills rejected a bill in January 2020 that proposed the legalization of untethered sports wagering. She voiced her concerns about the legalization of sports betting and its influence on younger children. According to Gov Janet Mills, her major concern was that the law did not have sufficient provisions that would deny them access to online sports betting platforms to underage people. Even Luchini supported  the Governor’s remarks and said, “Sports betting cannot be marketed to the children; this is a big issue for the Governor and is rightfully so.”

The Governor also feels that it’s very unlikely that the people of Maine are ready to support or promote betting on sports events.

For now, the future of sports betting in Maine is still unclear; while the lawmakers are trying their best to get it legalized, for now, everything depends upon the Governor.