Online Casinos in Maine

Maine has legalised online casino gaming and has not opened it. Both halves of that sentence matter, and the second is the one a reader needs first: as of October 2026 no Internet gaming licence had been issued in Maine, the rules were still in rulemaking, and the regulator was not yet accepting applications.

The Law That Passed

The authorising measure is LD 1164, An Act to Create Economic Opportunity for the Wabanaki Nations Through Internet Gaming. The Gambling Control Unit's own bill tracker for the 132nd Legislature records its status as passed on 11 January 2026. The Unit's summary of the bill states that it authorises each federally recognized Indian nation, tribe or band in this State to operate Internet gaming pursuant to a licence from the Gambling Control Unit within the Department of Public Safety, that only such a nation, tribe or band is eligible to obtain a licence and operate Internet gaming, and that the licensing structure follows the law governing sports wagering.

The Unit cites the governing statute as Title 8 Chapter 39, Regulation of Internet Gaming, at 8 §1401 to 1417. That chapter had not yet appeared in the published online text of the Maine Revised Statutes when this page was researched, so the statutory text quoted here is the text the Unit publishes on its own pages.

Who Regulates It

The Gambling Control Unit, within the Maine Department of Public Safety, states that it is responsible for administering and enforcing the laws and rules governing Internet Gaming, and that this includes licensing and the operation of Internet Gaming mobile operators, management services, suppliers and their employees. Four licence types are set out: an Internet gaming licence under section 1406 for an operator, a supplier licence under section 1407 for goods and services that may not directly accept wagers, a management services licence under section 1408 to manage Internet gaming on an operator's behalf, and an occupational licence under section 1409 for employees.

What Counts as Internet Gaming

The definition the Unit publishes is a casino definition, not a betting one. Internet gaming means a card game, dice game or other game of chance approved by the director, including but not limited to blackjack, poker, dice, craps, roulette or baccarat, offered through an approved mobile application or other digital platform that involves, at least in part, the use of the Internet.

The exclusions are explicit. Internet gaming does not include a table game or slot machine under chapter 31, the sale of pari-mutuel pools under chapter 11, fantasy contests, mobile sports wagering under chapter 35, or advance deposit wagering. Maine already runs licensed mobile sports wagering under that separate chapter 35, and the Unit keeps separate statute, rulemaking, revenue and application pages for each product. Online sports betting being live in Maine says nothing about online casino being live, and the two should never be read as one authorisation.

Why Nothing Is Live Yet

Rulemaking is still running. The Unit's I-Gaming rulemaking page records an initial notice of rulemaking dated 6 May 2026, a notice of public hearing dated 15 July 2026 with proposed language for Chapter 70-84 Internet Gaming, and a third publication dated 30 September 2026 with written comments due by 30 October 2026. The adopted rules section of that page was still empty when this research was done.

The application position is stated by the Unit in plain terms: applications are available to fill out and prepare for submission but will not be accepted at this time, and a submission date will be posted when the Unit starts accepting them. The statute's own bar is equally plain: a person or entity may not engage in any activities in this State that require a licence under the chapter unless all necessary licences have been obtained in accordance with the chapter and the rules adopted under it. The Unit's revenue distribution page lists monthly Internet gaming revenue for the Passamaquoddy Tribe and for the Penobscot, Maliseet and Micmac Tribes as still to be announced.

Because Maine licenses online casino gaming but has licensed nobody yet, an operator list for Maine on this site is empty. That is the correct result, not a gap. This site does not fill the space with offshore or unlicensed operators in any market, and it will not do so here.

How the Revenue Is Split

An operator must collect and distribute 18% of adjusted gross Internet gaming receipts to the director, to be forwarded to the Treasurer of State. Adjusted gross Internet gaming receipts are defined as an operator's gross receipts from Internet gaming less all winnings paid to patrons, including the cash equivalent of merchandise or anything of value awarded as a prize, and less excise tax payments remitted to the federal government. Of that 18%, two percent goes to the Gambling Control Unit's administrative expenses account, two percent to the Gambling Addiction Prevention and Treatment Fund, two and one-half percent to the dairy stabilization tier programme, one and one-half percent to the Opioid Use Disorder Prevention and Treatment Fund, two percent to the Emergency Housing Relief Fund, five percent to the Maine Veterans' Homes Stabilization Fund, one percent to the Fund for a Healthy Maine and two percent to the School Revolving Renovation Fund.

Sweepstakes Casinos

No status is recorded for sweepstakes casinos in Maine. No Maine statute, Gambling Control Unit page, attorney general statement or legislative record found for this research addresses the sweepstakes casino model one way or the other, and this site does not infer a position from a state's real-money position, from a neighbouring state, or from a national trend. A blank means the question has not been settled on quotable evidence; it is not a finding either way.

A sweepstakes casino is not a licensed real-money casino, and the two are never presented here as alternatives to each other.

Responsible Gambling

Maine routes help through 211. ADEPT Maine Problem Gambling Services, which the Gambling Control Unit links to from its own site, states that 211 is Maine's Problem Gambling Helpline and that a person can be connected to services by dialling 211, texting their zip code to 898-211, or emailing info@211maine.org. The Maine Department of Health and Human Services gives the same routes, says Problem Gambling Services focus on prevention, intervention, treatment, recovery and awareness, and tells people to contact 211 Maine anytime for confidential information and resources.

One discrepancy is worth recording rather than resolving. The National Council on Problem Gambling brands the national helpline 1-800-MY-RESET on its own pages, so more than one national number is in circulation; where a state body publishes its own helpline, that number is shown alongside it. Both are published by the bodies that run the services, so this page notes both.