Maine has collected about $6 million in total revenue during the state’s first full year of sports betting.
Sportsbook wagering went live last November. The Wabanaki nations collect half of all gross receipts. The state receives about 10 percent of the revenue, after player payouts and federal taxes.
Milt Champion, the commissioner of Maine’s Gambling Control Unit, said he expects state revenues will remain about the same in future years.
“I think Maine’s really close to their saturation point. In other words, people are not going to go out and get a second job so they can go to the casino and sports wager. It’s just not going to happen. So you either do one or the other, or a little bit of both,” Champion said.
The state has not seen a major increase in people seeking help from Maine’s Problem Gambling Helpline, Champion said, and fewer than 10 people have signed up for sports wagering self-exclusion, which allows Mainers to opt out from gambling with operators for an amount of time that they choose.
“It really hasn’t been a huge increase from the sports wagering world,” he said. “We’re surprised, but we’re happy.
More than 75 percent of wagers were made on Draft Kings’ online betting platform, which the Passamaquoddy Tribe has partnered with. The rest were made on Caesars Sportsbook, which inked deals with the remaining three tribes in Maine.
This article appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
