{"id":104047,"date":"2019-05-01T16:50:07","date_gmt":"2019-05-01T23:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=104047"},"modified":"2019-05-01T16:50:07","modified_gmt":"2019-05-01T23:50:07","slug":"maine-lawmakers-debate-authorizing-native-american-gaming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-lawmakers-debate-authorizing-native-american-gaming\/","title":{"rendered":"Maine Lawmakers Debate Authorizing Native American Gaming with Casino Owned by Four Tribes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lawmakers in Maine are debating legislation that would pave the way for the state\u2019s first ever tribal casino and third gaming venue in all.<\/p>\n

\"Maine
State Rep. Benjamin Collings believes Native Americans have been discriminated against in Maine in regard to gaming and its time to redress that balance. His bill would allow the state\u2019s four federally recognized tribes to operate a casino as a joint enterprise. (Image: Maine Legislature)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rep. Benjamin Collings\u2019 (D-Portland) bill would authorize the state\u2019s four federally recognized tribes — the Passamaquoddy, the Penobscot, the Aroostook Band of Micmac, and the Houlton Band of Maliseet<\/a> — to jointly own and operate a casino on tribal land.<\/p>\n

Maine\u2019s tribes have been dealt a raw deal in comparison with tribes in other states when it comes to gaming and Collings told Casino.org Wednesday that his bill was about redressing the balance — a \u201cmatter of basic fairness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sovereignty Restricted<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In 1988, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act created a legal framework for Native American gaming across the US and authorized tribes to open casinos on their sovereign land, provided those lands had been taken into trust prior to the bill\u2019s enactment.<\/p>\n

Under IGRA, federally recognized tribes are generally permitted to offer class II gaming — defined as poker and bingo — without state approval, provided these games are legal elsewhere in the state.<\/p>\n

Full-scale class III casino gaming must be negotiated between tribal and state governments, reaching agreements called compacts, again, only if casino gaming is offered commercially in the state.<\/p>\n

\n

Three of Maine\u2019s tribes were recognized by the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act in 1980 and so would normally qualify for the right to offer class II gaming, but for the fact that the act specifically stated that federal Indian law would not apply to the tribes after 1980 unless the law specifically mentioned Maine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This would appear to exclude them from 1988\u2019s IGRA.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the final tribe to be recognized, the Aroostook, gained that status in 1991, three years too late for IGRA.<\/p>\n

Controversial Referendum<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Maine has two commercial casinos, in Oxford and Bangor. In 2003, voters in a public referendum rejected an amendment to authorize tribal gaming by a margin of 2:1. But at the same time, they voted to approve a measure authorizing slot-machine gaming at the Bangor racino, leading to claims of racism by the tribe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tribes have been discriminated against in regard to gaming,\u201d says Collings, who also notes that the two commercial casinos are owned by interests in Pennsylvania and Europe, which means Maine money is leaving the state and going to casino owners and shareholders elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Money earned by the tribes would be used for economic development, education, healthcare, and economic cleanup within the state, he says.<\/p>\n

Under Collings\u2019 bill, 25 percent of slot revenues would go towards public schools and 16 percent of table game revenues to the general fund.<\/p>\n

Collings, who has a history of supporting tribal issues, believes there is a lot of backing in the Democratic-controlled legislature for his bill — although not so much<\/a> among commercial gaming operators.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Maine became the latest state to ditch Columbus Day for Indigenous People\u2019s Day, when Governor Janet Mills signed a bill into law that had also been sponsored by Collings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lawmakers in Maine are debating legislation that would pave the way for the state\u2019s first ever tribal casino and third gaming venue in all. Rep. Benjamin Collings\u2019 (D-Portland) bill would authorize the state\u2019s four federally recognized tribes — the Passamaquoddy, the Penobscot, the Aroostook Band of Micmac, and the Houlton Band of Maliseet — to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":104050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,18,61,18456],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMaine Lawmakers Debate Authorizing Native American Gaming<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"First Maine tribal casino would be joint enterprise between four tribes, as per State Rep. Benjamin Colling\u2019s Native American gaming bill,.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Maine Lawmakers Debate Authorizing Native American Gaming\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"First Maine tribal casino would be joint enterprise between four tribes, as per State Rep. Benjamin Colling\u2019s Native American gaming bill,.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-lawmakers-debate-authorizing-native-american-gaming\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-01T23:50:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/collings.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"712\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-lawmakers-debate-authorizing-native-american-gaming\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-lawmakers-debate-authorizing-native-american-gaming\/\",\"name\":\"Maine Lawmakers Debate Authorizing Native American Gaming\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-lawmakers-debate-authorizing-native-american-gaming\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-lawmakers-debate-authorizing-native-american-gaming\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/collings.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-01T23:50:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-05-01T23:50:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"First Maine tribal casino would be joint enterprise between four tribes, as per State Rep. Benjamin Colling\u2019s Native American gaming bill,.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-lawmakers-debate-authorizing-native-american-gaming\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-lawmakers-debate-authorizing-native-american-gaming\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-lawmakers-debate-authorizing-native-american-gaming\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/collings.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/collings.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":712,\"caption\":\"State Rep. Benjamin Collings believes Native Americans have been discriminated against in Maine in regard to gaming and its time to redress that balance. His bill would allow the state\u2019s four federally recognized tribe to operate a casino as a joint enterprise. (Image: Maine Legislature)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-lawmakers-debate-authorizing-native-american-gaming\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Tribal Gaming\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribal-gaming\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Maine Lawmakers Debate Authorizing Native American Gaming with Casino Owned by Four Tribes\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Maine Lawmakers Debate Authorizing Native American Gaming","description":"First Maine tribal casino would be joint enterprise between four tribes, as per State Rep. Benjamin Colling\u2019s Native American gaming bill,.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Maine Lawmakers Debate Authorizing Native American Gaming","og_description":"First Maine tribal casino would be joint enterprise between four tribes, as per State Rep. Benjamin Colling\u2019s Native American gaming bill,.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-lawmakers-debate-authorizing-native-american-gaming\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2019-05-01T23:50:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":712,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/collings.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-lawmakers-debate-authorizing-native-american-gaming\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-lawmakers-debate-authorizing-native-american-gaming\/","name":"Maine Lawmakers Debate Authorizing Native American Gaming","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-lawmakers-debate-authorizing-native-american-gaming\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-lawmakers-debate-authorizing-native-american-gaming\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/collings.jpg","datePublished":"2019-05-01T23:50:07+00:00","dateModified":"2019-05-01T23:50:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"First Maine tribal casino would be joint enterprise between four tribes, as per State Rep. Benjamin Colling\u2019s Native American gaming bill,.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-lawmakers-debate-authorizing-native-american-gaming\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-lawmakers-debate-authorizing-native-american-gaming\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-lawmakers-debate-authorizing-native-american-gaming\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/collings.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/collings.jpg","width":1200,"height":712,"caption":"State Rep. Benjamin Collings believes Native Americans have been discriminated against in Maine in regard to gaming and its time to redress that balance. His bill would allow the state\u2019s four federally recognized tribe to operate a casino as a joint enterprise. (Image: Maine Legislature)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-lawmakers-debate-authorizing-native-american-gaming\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Tribal Gaming","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribal-gaming\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Maine Lawmakers Debate Authorizing Native American Gaming with Casino Owned by Four Tribes"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104047"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}