The legal battle over the future of digital gaming in Maine has intensified as the Wabanaki Nations officially entered the fray.
A judge recently granted a joint motion to intervene filed by all four tribes, the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, the Mi’kmaq Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe, and the Penobscot Nation, in a high-stakes lawsuit brought against the state by Oxford Casino.
The Monopoly Dispute
Oxford Casino initiated the lawsuit in January, alleging that Maine‘s new internet gambling law creates an illegal “race-based monopoly.” The law, which Governor Janet Mills allowed to pass without her signature on January 8, grants the Wabanaki Nations the exclusive right to operate online casino games. The casino argues this violates constitutional protections and unfairly excludes established commercial operators from the nascent digital market.
Tribal Sovereignty and Economic Justice
The Wabanaki Nations contend that the law is a vital step toward economic self-sufficiency and rectifies decades of exclusion from the state’s lucrative gaming industry. The tribes’ lobbying efforts were instrumental in the bill’s passage, despite lingering hesitations from the Governor’s office and outright opposition from several state agencies who feared a loss of regulatory control.
Governor Mills’ decision to let the bill become law without her signature was seen as a calculated political move to avoid a direct veto confrontation with the tribes while acknowledging the significant concerns regarding the law’s legal durability. With the tribes now officially part of the defense, the case is set to become a landmark test of tribal sovereignty versus commercial competition laws in the United States.
