Maine is dithering.
It is generally thought that football is the engine that drives sports betting although there are far many more baseball games and other sports that are in the sports contest inventory. It is also thought states want to introduce betting to coincide with the opening of the NFL season although pre-season games do count for gamblers. This year’s first NFL action is the Hall of Fame game on August 1. There will be one state missing the action. Maine. State elected officials approved a gambling bill but the governor, Janet Mills, let the bill go without her signature which means there will be no legalized sports gambling in the state. Whatever gambling money Maine might have gotten near the New Hampshire border will leak into the Granite State. New Hampshire has legalized sports gambling.
It has been 14 months since the United States Supreme Court came down with a decision that legalized sports gambling. Nevada got legalized sportsbooks in 1949. New York, New Jersey, Delaware, West Virginia, Rhode Island, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Montana, Oregon, New Mexico, Arkansas, New Hampshire and Tennessee now have various forms of sportsbooks. Five states are moving ahead with legislation working through the system, with California, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina and Ohio lawmakers debating the pros and cons of sports betting. California may put the question before voters in 2020.  Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association were looking for an integrity fee from Delaware and New Jersey once those states got sports betting up and going. MLB and the NBA wanted states to implement the same rules that apply in France and Australia where a piece of the pie, would be kicked back to the leagues so that the leagues could monitor sports betting to make sure it was all above board. No state has agreed with the leagues.
