Tribal leaders: casino operator hypocritical with lawsuit filing

Wabanaki tribal officials are calling a Maine casino operator who recently filed a lawsuit against the state over the new online gaming law "hypocritical." The suit was filed on January 23 by Oxford Casino Hotel, BB Development LLC, both of Oxford, and Churchill Downs Inc. of Kentucky against the executive director of the Maine Gambling Control Unit after Governor Janet Mills allowed a bill granting the four Wabanaki nations exclusive access to the online gaming market in the state.

The lawsuit challenges "Maine's unlawful efforts to grant a monopoly on online casino-style gambling" to the four tribes in Maine, and it alleges that the legislature "has blessed a race-based monopoly" that will allow only the tribes in the state to offer online gaming. The suit states, "Promoting iGaming through race-based preferences deals a gut-wrenching blow to Maine businesses like Oxford Casino that have heavily invested in the state and its people."

However, Rep. Aaron Dana, the Passamaquoddy Tribe's representative in the legislature, says Oxford Casino, one of the two casinos in the state, is being hypocritical in its lawsuit's statements. "If the Oxford Casino would like to remember, they have a monopoly with their own casino and prevented the tribes from having one" in a previous referendum vote. The Oxford Casino was approved in a statewide referendum in 2010. Before the vote in November 2010, the Passamaquoddy Tribe had lobbied for the legislature to approve a competing measure for a tribal casino in Washington County along with the Oxford County casino to be on the ballot, but that measure did not advance. The tribe has been trying to establish a casino or a racino in the state since 1992, but the plans have been turned down by the legislature, the governor or state voters. However, two non-tribal casinos, the one in Oxford and Hollywood Slots in Bangor, have been approved.

"It's very hypocritical," Rep. Dana says of Oxford Casino's filing of the lawsuit, as they "established a brick-and-mortar casino with exclusivity," as Maine law requires that another casino must be at least 100 miles away. He also points out that the Oxford Casino is "run by an out-of-state company," Churchill Downs Inc., based in Kentucky. In contrast, "The Wabanaki tribes are Maine citizens," he notes.

As for the allegation of the state allowing a "race-based monopoly," Rep. Dana says that the only way for the tribes to have the law apply to them is to be named as a special interest group.

Unlike other tribes in the country that have been able to set up casinos to generate billions of dollars to help with self‑determination and Native sovereignty efforts, for more than 30 years the tribes in Maine, which do not fall under the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act because of the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act, have been unsuccessful in their efforts to establish a casino in the state.

Representatives from both the Oxford Casino and the Hollywood Casino had opposed the iGaming bill during a legislative hearing last March. Chris Jackson of the lobby firm Mitchell Tardy Jackson, representing Hollywood Casino, Hotel and Raceway in Bangor, stated that the bill would "constitute the largest single expansion of gaming in our state's history, without approval from the voters, and threaten facilities in Bangor and Oxford."

As for why the Oxford Casino filed the suit after the iGaming law was allowed to become law, Rep. Dana says, "They believe it will affect their casino. But studies show that online gaming doesn't affect brick-and-mortar casinos. It's a different demographic." He says the suit is "a way to stonewall the tribes from prospering economically."

The tribes in Maine are expected to receive millions of dollars through the new iGaming law. The Passamaquoddy Tribe has already earned $57 million since its sports betting partnership with DraftKings began in November 2023, and the online gaming market is seen as being three to four times larger than the one for sports betting.

According to Rep. Dana, the Passamaquoddy Tribe will use the funds to help with its current housing crisis. He notes that only about half of the tribe's population can live on the two reservations. There are about 4,000 tribal members, with about 2,200 living at Sipayik and Indian Township. Funds will also be used to pay for infrastructure such as roads, water and utilities, and for the social, mental and physical health of tribal members. Revenues could be used to establish new businesses "so we can get to the point where we are self-sufficient and not depending on federal and state funding," he says.

While the director of the Maine Gambling Control Unit is the one being sued by Oxford Casino, Rep. Dana says the tribes "are going to be working with the Attorney General's Office to offer any support we can."