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With Maine online casinos coming, lawmakers split on sweepstakes casinos ban
Online casinos in Maine are on the way, but legislators are still looking to officially prohibit online sweepstakes operators with a bill that faces an uncertain future.
While online casinos in Maine expect to go live potentially later this year, lawmakers in the Pine Tree State are looking to crack down on unlicensed online gambling operations with a bill that would ban online sweepstakes casinos. Unfortunately, recent legislation that would prohibit these platforms has encountered a hurdle after officials could not reach a consensus recommendation on how to approach the vertical.
Senate bill looks to prohibit online sweepstakes casinos in Maine
A Senate bill, LD2007, aims to prohibit online sweepstakes casinos in Maine, expressly banning any platform that uses a dual-currency system of payment that so many other states have targeted in recent months.
Language in the proposal prevents individuals from directly purchasing currency that are redeemable for a cash award, prize or equivalents or for the chance to win anything of value. It also encourages users to buy services, products, coins, tokens or anything else of value that are not exchangeable for such prizes.
These "direct" and "indirect" considerations essentially place online sweepstakes casinos into the world of illegal online gambling, should the bill become law.
All that said, the bill endured three hearings within a Senate committee – which featured testimony from major stakeholders such as DraftKings, VGW and the Social Gaming Leadership Alliance – yet there was no unanimous decision on the proposal. Rather, the bill was submitted as a divided report with split recommendations to the full Senate chamber as Maine lawmakers face a legislative session deadline of April 15.
Expected launch of Maine online casinos could help bill pass
The legalization of Maine online casinos is expected to be a factor in the bill's passage. After all, earlier this year, Gov. Janet Mills allowed a bill to become law to authorize state-regulated iGaming. As a result, the state will soon welcome real money online casino apps.
Along those lines, licensed operators that offer online casino games for real money perceive online sweepstakes casinos as competitors that do not need to go through the same stringent regulatory process to offer titles that many legislators and iGaming stakeholders believe closely resemble online casino games.
It should come as no surprise, then, that DraftKings has stepped in to speak out against sweeps casinos – surely as other potential online casino operators that look to secure a Maine online casino license.
Kevin Cochran, senior director of legal and government affairs at DraftKings, emphasized during a hearing in Maine that unregulated online sweepstakes casinos "operate outside" the legal framework that state lawmakers established with a bill to authorize state-regulated online casinos.
As a result, Cochran said, sweeps casinos could lure players away from licensed platforms and new online casinos that will contribute tax revenue to the state and undermine the intent of the recently passed law.
