Maine Bans Sweepstakes Poker and Casinos in Wake of iGaming Legalization

Maine Governor Janet Mills allowed a invoice legalizing iGaming to grow to be regulation by failing to signal it or veto it earlier this 12 months. That regulation permits for regulated on-line poker in Maine. Now, she took extra decisive motion by signing a handful of recent payments, all pertaining to the playing business within the state.

The Governor was busy signing quite a lot of payments into regulation in current weeks, because the state’s two-year legislative session approaches its remaining day on April 15, and some of these instantly affected sweepstakes poker and on line casino operators, in addition to different playing operators within the Pine Tree State.

LD 2007 explicitly banned all sweepstakes operators from the state, permitting for stronger enforcement towards any operators who proceed to supply providers in Maine sooner or later.

Two different gambling-related paperwork have been additionally signed into regulation, one banning using bank cards in on-line playing, and one other prohibiting the majority sale of lottery tickets.

With these actions, Maine made strikes to arrange for the upcoming launch of a legalized iGaming market, which is at present being challenged in courtroom by the Oxford On line casino operator Churchill Downs Inc.

Sweepstakes Poker and Casinos Explicitly Banned

Legislative Doc 2007 was signed by Gov. Mills on Monday, explicitly banning all dual-currency on-line sweepstakes on line casino and poker operators on the request of the Division of Public Security.

This ban will embody all sweepstakes websites, together with sweepstakes sportsbooks, casinos, and poker operators. On the time it was signed into regulation, some 60 such operators have been energetic within the state of Maine.

The brand new regulation will enable the state authorities to take stronger motion towards any operators that don’t comply, together with issuing fines of as much as $100,000, and making operators ineligible for future licensing by the Maine Playing Management Board (MGCB).

This improvement makes Maine the second state to impose a ban on sweepstakes playing websites in 2026, following Indiana, whose Governor Mike Braun signed an analogous invoice earlier within the 12 months. Nonetheless, the Indiana regulation consists of an exception for sweepstakes poker.

Maine Joins States that Prohibit Credit score Card Playing

Simply earlier than signing the ban on sweepstakes, Gov. Mills additionally signed LD 2080, including Maine to the listing of states that ban using bank cards in all types of on-line playing.

The invoice was initially launched in January by Rep. Marc Malon, and included solely a ban on using bank cards for on-line sports activities betting. Following the current legalization of iGaming within the state, Malon urged his colleagues to increase the ban to on-line casinos as properly, as he believes the guardrail ought to be set in all types of on-line playing.

“Whereas sports activities wagering continues to develop and as iGaming comes on-line, it’s applicable for the legislature to contemplate guardrails, which may defend shoppers from falling into harmful habits and into debt,” mentioned Malon.

Some operators, reminiscent of DraftKings, have beforehand banned using bank cards on their platform nationwide, however others, like Caesars, proceed to permit it. Malon’s amended invoice now forces all operators to ban bank cards on their platforms for Maine customers.

This makes Maine one other in a sequence of states which have launched comparable guardrails, with the likes of Illinois, Vermont, Tennessee, and Massachusetts already having a full ban on bank cards in iGaming.

Bulk Lottery Purchases Addressed in LD 2095

On April 3, Gov. Mills additionally signed LD 2095, an emergency measure launched by way of a committee modification in March, addressing bulk purchases of lottery tickets.

The invoice bans any particular person or teams of buying greater than $25,000 value of lottery tickets in single or a number of places, by way of single or a number of transactions. The invoice bans people from performing in live performance to buy tickets in bulk and claims to be addressing an energetic disaster.

In keeping with the invoice, bulk buying actions threaten the equity and integrity of the lottery and run opposite to the intent of the lottery, which was approved by voters all the way in which again in 1973.

The invoice will restrict the variety of tickets people or teams should buy in bulk, thus limiting any single participant’s capability to use the lottery guidelines or create a bonus over different gamers.

The three payments signed into regulation this spring all purpose to make the playing market in Maine extra truthful, equitable, and protected for the gamers, setting guardrails and establishing limitations that preserve playing enjoyable, but in addition protected.