AUGUSTA, Maine — The Passamaquoddy’s decision to ink an exclusive deal with one of the nation’s biggest sportsbooks resulted in the tribe bringing in more than 80 percent of Maine’s handle in the first four months of legal betting.
Nearly $126.4 million in bets were placed in Maine between November and February on the DraftKings platform compared with less than $27.6 million wagered through Caesars Sportsbook, the sports betting offshoot of the Las Vegas gambling and hotel giant that is partnering with the Penobscot, Maliseet and Mi’kmaq tribes.
It points to a savvy decision by the Passamaquoddy to go it alone after betting was allowed under a 2022 compromise between Gov. Janet Mills and tribes that were seeking a more sweeping sovereignty deal. Betting opened here in early November, nearly a year and a half after the Democratic governor signed off on the measure.
The deals between the tribes and the sportsbooks are not public, but revenue figures and allocations are published monthly by the Maine Gambling Control Unit, the state’s gaming regulator. The tribes pay 10 percent taxes on profits, resulting in just under $1.9 million in state revenue through February. That is roughly in line with early projections.
DraftKings, which began as a daily fantasy sports company in Boston more than a decade ago, has turned into one of the dominant players in sports betting since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to legalize the industry in a landmark 2018 decision. Maine was the 25th state to allow the company to operate in the new market.
“We couldn’t have landed a better organization in the mobile sports wagering arena, and we look forward to continued progress and investment for future growth in the state of Maine,” Chief William Nicholas said in a statement announcing the partnership.
Sports betting has been one of the biggest products of tense negotiations between Mills and tribes that want to overhaul the terms of a historic 1980 settlement that governs the state-tribal relationship. The measure that allowed betting came after Mills opposed a sweeping sovereignty bill, and the sides are closing in on a separate deal in talks this year.