Legal forms of gambling in the U.S. state of

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

include parimutuel wagering on

horse races Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

, the

Maine Lottery The Maine Lottery is run by the government of Maine. It is a member of the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), whose flagship game is Powerball. It was founded in 1974 after being approved through a voter referendum. Maine originally joined MU ...

, two

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

s, and charitable gaming.

Horse racing

Parimutuel wagering on

harness racing Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace). They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, or spider, or chariot occupied by a driver. In Europe, and less frequently in Australi ...

is permitted at the state's two racetracks, Hollywood Casino Hotel & Raceway in Bangor and First Tracks in

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

. Brief harness racing meets of up to nine days each also occur at nine

agricultural fair An agricultural show is a public event exhibiting the equipment, animals, sports and recreation associated with agriculture and animal husbandry. The largest comprise a livestock show (a judged event or display in which breeding stock is exhib ...

s throughout the state, from July to October, with wagering allowed. Wagering is also offered at four

off-track betting Off-track betting (or OTB; in British English, off-course betting) is sanctioned gambling on horse racing outside a race track. U.S. history Before the 1970s, only the state of Nevada allowed off-track betting. Off-track betting in New York was ...

parlors around the state.

Casinos

Maine law allows two casinos: Hollywood Casino in Bangor and

Oxford Casino The Oxford Casino is a hotel and casino in Oxford, Maine, owned and operated by Churchill Downs Inc. It has of gaming space, with 970 slot machines and 28 table games. The hotel is four stories, with 107 rooms. There are three eateries at the pr ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. The two casinos had a total annual net gaming revenue of $165 million as of 2022.

Slot machine A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively a ...

s at horse tracks were approved in a statewide referendum in 2003, but were rejected by voters in the city of Scarborough, leading to Bangor having the only permitted casino. The casino in Oxford was approved by a statewide referendum in 2010. The racino law was amended the following year to allow

table game Table game may refer to: * Table game (casino), games of chance that are played against the casino and operated by one or more live dealers * Tables game, a class of board game that includes backgammon * Tabletop game, games that are normally play ...

s at Bangor.

Sports betting

Maine enacted legislation authorizing sports betting in 2022. Under the new law, the right to offer mobile sports betting was granted exclusively to Maine’s

federally recognized tribes This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...

. Tribes will be able to partner with third parties to operate their online sportsbook platforms, but would still have to retain a significant portion of the overall revenue. Retail sports betting will also be permitted in person at Maine’s two commercial casino locations as well as at licensed racetracks and off-track betting facilities.

Charitable gaming

Maine law permits many types of community organizations to conduct various games of chance for fundraising purposes, including

bingo Bingo or B-I-N-G-O may refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * Bingo, a game using a printed card of numbers ** Bingo (British version), a game using a printed card of 15 numbers on three lines; most commonly played in the UK and Ireland ** Bi ...

(with prizes up to $400),

raffle A raffle is a gambling competition in which people obtain numbered tickets, each of which has the chance of winning a prize. At a set time, the winners are drawn at random from a container holding a copy of each number. The drawn tickets are chec ...

s (with prize values up to $75,000), and card games (generally with a maximum bet of $1 per hand).

Indian gaming

State law grants Maine's four

the exclusive right to offer mobile sports betting, as well as the right to conduct high-stakes bingo games with unlimited prize values. The tribes do not have casino gaming rights that tribes in other states possess, because the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act subjects the tribes' lands to state law, and excludes the

Indian Gaming Regulatory Act The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (, ''et seq.'') is a 1988 United States federal law that establishes the jurisdictional framework that governs Indian gaming. There was no federal gaming structure before this act. The stated purposes of the ac ...

from applying in the state.

Lottery

The

offers

scratch-off A scratchcard (also called a scratch off, scratch ticket, scratcher, scratchum, scratch-it, scratch game, scratch-and-win, instant game, instant lottery, scratchie, lot scrots, or scritchies) is a card designed for competitions, often made of ...

and drawing games, including the multi-state

Powerball Powerball is an American lottery game offered by 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is coordinated by the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL). From its inaugural drawing on April 19, 1992, unti ...

and

Mega Millions Mega Millions (originally known as ''The Big Game'' in 1996 and renamed, temporarily, to ''The Big Game Mega Millions'' six years later) is an American multi-jurisdictional lottery game; as of January 30, 2020, it is offered in 45 states, the Di ...

games.

References

{{Lists of casinos by U.S. state Maine law