Bettors wagered nearly $40 million in Maine during the first month online sports betting became legal, with the state’s tribes, two vendors and state government receiving benefits, officials said.
All told, $37.5 million was spent in Maine on online sports bets from Nov. 3 to the end of the month, according to the Gambling Control Unit, part of the Maine Department of Public Safety.
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Milt Champion, director of the Gambling Control Unit, said the rollout went smoothly with only a handful of complaints and no spike in calls to a hotline for people with gambling problems.
“Everybody’s behaving, and it’s really nice,” he said Wednesday.
Gamblers have wagered about $40 million in the month since Maine began legally allowing sports betting. (MaineNews)
Democratic Gov. Janet Mills has granted exclusive rights to online sports to federally identified Native American tribes in the state, offering them an olive branch after she thwarted a proposal for greater sovereignty for tribes in 2022. Existing casinos, on the other hand, are allowed to conduct one-person betting activities.
Most of the mobile and online wagering was made through Boston-based DraftKings, the vendor selected by the Passamaquoddy tribe. Caesars Sportsbook, based in Reno, Nevada, is the vendor being used by the Penobscot Nation, Maliseets and Mi’kmaq.
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During the month, tribes earned a share of the gross receipts, or about $2. 3 million, while the state government collected about $468,000 in taxes. The rest of the gross proceeds went to the sellers.