New England is beginning to fill up with more and more legalized sports betting states. Maine is close to becoming the next state as they will have two weeks left to sign the bill into law. They have passed it through the House and Senate, but have made some changes to the bill. Maine will have some strict restrictions that some other states do not have in place.
Changes To Bill
There has been a major change to the bill put in place for legalized sports betting. In the beginning, the bill was going to allow uncapped licenses and not require partnerships. That will change in the upcoming bill change where sportsbooks will not be able to offer in-state college betting or allow more miscellaneous prop bets outside of basic sports stats like strikeouts, passing yards, touchdowns. For example, a coin toss prop bet for the Super Bowl would not be allowed.
Online sports betting will be taxed at 16% compared to in-person sports betting which is a 10% tax rate. Online sports betting operators will have to pay $100,000 for a two-year license.
Operators To Come In
Maine will still carry a few operators despite a small market. We should see FanDuel, DraftKings, and BetMGM partner in Maine to operate, but secondary sportsbooks might bow out because of the higher price tag. Once regulations are finalized and the bill is signed into law, sportsbooks will begin to partner and start operations. The goal will be to up and running around the beginning of the NFL season.
