Maine Sports Betting

Is sports betting legal in Maine right now, and is online betting live?

Yes to both, and it has been for nearly three years. Maine's sports wagering law was enacted and signed by Governor Janet Mills on May 2, 2022. Online and retail wagering went live together on November 3, 2023.

The Gambling Control Unit publishes a monthly revenue report for every licensee, and there is an unbroken run of them from November 2023 through July 2026. In the first seven months of 2026 alone, Maine bettors staked $339.9 million across the state's four sports wagering licensees.

Timeline of what has changed in Maine:

• May 2, 2022. Governor Mills signs LD 585, creating Title 8, Chapter 35.

• November 3, 2023. Online and retail sports betting launch. DraftKings and Caesars Sportsbook are the only apps.

• September 2024. Oddfellahs opens in Portland's Old Port, Maine's first standalone retail sportsbook, operating with Caesars. Oxford Casino Hotel becomes the second reporting retail book in January 2025.

• January 2026. LD 1164 becomes law without the Governor's signature, authorizing tribal internet gaming. Online casino play is still not live.

• January 23, 2026. Churchill Downs' Oxford Casino sues the director of the Gambling Control Unit in federal court over the tribal-exclusive licensing model.

• 2026. LD 2080 prohibits credit cards as a funding method for online sports wagering and internet gaming accounts. On July 29, 2026, LD 2007 takes effect, prohibiting online sweepstakes games, codified at Title 8, Chapter 38.

Maine Sports Betting Key Takeaways

As of right now, Caesars and DraftKings are the only sportsbooks with a Maine sports betting license. Read on for more information on these sportsbooks.

Sports bettors in Maine can use promo code ACTION22DYW for the following new user promo at Caesars Sportsbook: Bet $1+, Double Your Winnings Your Next 10 Wagers!

Who is better in Maine, DraftKings or Caesars?

Two apps hold Maine sports wagering licenses: DraftKings Sportsbook and Caesars Sportsbook. These are the only sports betting sites live in Maine, and this has not changed since launch.

This actually acts to protect readers and Maine bettors better than most states, because any betting site that is not DraftKings or Caesars is unlicensed here. Offshore or unlicensed sportsbooks are easy to note, report and stay away from because of this, offering one of the best and simplest methods of customer protection in the U.S.

No more guesswork as to whether or not they fit within the 14 or so licenses a state might offer. Maine has two, and if it is not one of them, avoid.

Where to Play: Legal Online Sportsbooks in Maine

DraftKings

DraftKings carries more markets on more events than anything else available in Maine, its same-game parlay builder is the most capable one you can legally use here, promotions arrive more often, and withdrawals are quick.

Pricing on the main lines holds up against anything in New England, the promotions land regularly rather than seasonally, and withdrawals clear quickly once you're verified. It runs through a partnership with the Passamaquoddy Tribe, so the money stays with Maine's Wabanaki Nations. If you're only opening one account in Maine, this is the one to open.

DraftKings Promo

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DraftKings Promo Code

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Action Network Score

9.2/10. See our DraftKings Promo Code and review for more in-depth information about DraftKings and step-by-step instructions on how to sign up.

Category	Star Rating
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Draftkings vs Other Sportsbooks

GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER or 1-800-MY-RESET, (800) 327-5050 or visit gamblinghelplinema.org (MA). Please Gamble Responsibly. 888-789-7777/visit ccpg.org (CT), or visit www.mdgamblinghelp.org (MD), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). 21+ and present in most states. (18+ DC/NH/PR/WY). Void in CAN. Eligibility restrictions apply. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino (KS). Pass-thru of per wager tax may apply in IL. 1 per new DraftKings customer. $5+ first-time bet req. Max. $150 issued as non-withdrawable Bonus Bets. Stake removed from payout. Reward issued as $50 in Bonus Bets every 7 days via click-to-claim for 14 days. Bonus Bets and click-to-claims expire 7 days (168hrs) after issuance. Terms: sportsbook.draftkings.com/promos. Ends 10/18/26 at 11:59 PM ET. Sponsored by DK.

Caesars Sportsbook Maine

Caesars is the book that gives you something back. Every wager builds Caesars Rewards, and those credits are spent on rooms, dinners and shows across the whole Caesars estate, so a season of betting in Maine could turn into a weekend away somewhere warmer.

The one thing to know is that coverage thins out once you leave the major American leagues, so if you bet obscure markets you'll want a second account alongside it. For everything else, the rewards and the Portland room make it well worth holding.

It's also the only operator with a retail location in the state. Oddfellahs opened in Portland in September 2024 as Maine's first permanent sportsbook, and it's a proper place to watch a game rather than a kiosk in a corner. It runs through partnerships with three of the four Wabanaki Nations: the Penobscot Nation, the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and the Mi'kmaq Nation.

Caesars Sportsbook Promo

Bet $1+, Double Your Winnings Your Next 10 Wagers! 

Caesars Sportsbook Promo Code

ACTION22DYW 

Action Network Score

9.3/10. See our Caesars Sportsbook Promo Code and review for more in-depth information and step-by-step instructions on how to sign up.

Category	Star Rating
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Caesars Sportsbook Terms & Conditions

_{Must be 21+ and physically present in AZ, CO, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MO, NJ, NY, NC, OH, PA, TN, VA, WV, WY, or Washington, DC. New users only. Must register using eligible promo code. Min. qualifying bet amount: $1. Tokens max. bet amount: $25 per token. Tokens bet max. add'l winnings: $2,500 per token. Token(s) expire 14 days after receipt. Not reissued for voided/pushed bets. Void where prohibited. See Caesars.com/promos for full terms. Know When To Stop Before You Start®. Gambling Problem? CO, IL, KY, MD, MI, MO, NJ, TN, VA, WV, WY, KS, ME, NC, PA: If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER ( 1-800-426-2537 ) or MD: visit mdgamblinghelp.org or WV: visit 1800gambler.net; AZ: Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP; IN: Call 1-800-9-WITH-IT; IA: Call 1-800-BETSOFF; LA, Washington, DC: Call 1-800-MY-RESET. ©2026, Caesars Entertainment}

Which Maine sportsbook is right for you?

As a Maine resident you are able to have an account with both DraftKings and Caesars. We recommend setting up both.

In a market with only two licensed books, the value of shopping a line is higher than in a seven-book state, not lower, because the two prices you can see diverge more than any welcome offer is worth.

If you bet moneylines, spreads and totals, that is where your money goes furthest. Shop the prices, find the best and take advantage of having an account with both books. If you build multi-leg parlays, want alternate lines on a Tuesday night mid-major game, or care about in-play depth, DraftKings has the product and Caesars does not.

What can you bet on in Maine, and what is prohibited?

Maine has a load of sports betting markets available and actively restricts very few things. Professional sports are wide open, and this expressly covers motor racing and esports alongside conventional leagues, something few states offer.

Can I bet on Maine college teams?

No, you cannot wager on any collegiate event in which a Maine college team participates, regardless of where the event takes place.

The ban follows the team, not the venue. You cannot bet on the Maine Black Bears playing at Towson, at Boston College, or anywhere else, in any sport, in the regular season or the postseason.

Maine's rule is stricter than Massachusetts' on this point, since Massachusetts allows wagering on Boston College or UMass once they reach a tournament of four or more teams.

You can wager on college player props, however, just not on any Maine Black Bears players. Again, very different from neighboring Massachusetts, where all college prop bets are banned regardless of the team or tournament.

Why does Maine have only two betting apps?

Because a Maine online sports betting license can only be held by a federally recognized Indian tribe, there are only four such tribes in the state, and every one of them has already aligned with either DraftKings or Caesars.

To be eligible for a mobile sports wagering license, an applicant must be partnered with a federally recognized Indian tribe in Maine. Each tribe may hold exactly one license. The license cannot be sold, assigned or transferred.

Separately, each mobile licensee may contract with no more than one sportsbook services provider: the commercial company that supplies the app, prices the markets and runs the operation day to day.

Four tribes, one license each, one commercial partner each. Four apps is the mathematical maximum, yet Maine currently has only two because three of the four nations chose to partner with Caesars:

As a result of this regulatory framework put in place by the Maine Gambling Control Unit, the likes of FanDuel, BetMGM, bet365, Fanatics and theScore Bet cannot get a Maine license by applying, no matter how large they are or how much tax they would pay.

Where are Maine's retail sportsbooks, and what is the experience like?

Oddfellahs opened in September 2024 as Maine's first standalone sportsbook: a sports bar in Portland's Old Port with betting windows, screens and a full menu, and the only place in the state where you can place a ticket with the same brand that runs your phone app.

Oxford Casino added betting to a floor holding close to 1,000 slot machines and around 30 table games, alongside a 107-room hotel. Hollywood Casino Hotel and Raceway in Bangor is still eligible for a facility license and has not opened a sportsbook, so despite housing the state's only live poker room and its only racing meet, it takes no sports wagers.

Placing an in-person bet is simple:

1. Bring a photo ID showing you are 21 or over.
2. Tell the ticket writer the event, market and stake.
3. Keep the ticket. Winning tickets expire 183 days after the event.
4. Watch the wager unfold.
5. Cash your winnings if the wager lands.

Maine is short on home teams. The state has no professional franchises and just one Division I program, so almost all of the action here points south to Boston. Massachusetts is a two-hour drive from Portland and the New England teams have always been Maine's teams, which is why the Patriots, Celtics, Red Sox and Bruins dominate the betting slates in Bangor and Biddeford the same way they do in Boston.

Pro Sports Teams

NFL Betting Maine

New England Patriots

The Patriots need no introduction in Maine. Six Super Bowl titles and a league-record 12 Super Bowl appearances make them the most successful franchise of this century, and Gillette Stadium in Foxborough is the closest NFL venue to the state by a wide margin.

The post-Brady rebuild ended in one season. Mike Vrabel took over a team that had gone 4–13 and led it to 14–3, the AFC East title for the first time since 2019 and a 10–7 win at Denver in the AFC Championship Game, before losing Super Bowl LX 29–13 to Seattle. The 10-win improvement tied the largest in NFL history. Vrabel won Coach of the Year and Drake Maye finished second in MVP voting. In 2026 they look set for another run.

Patriots Odds

A recommended resource list to help you make informed bets on football:

• How to Bet on Football Guide
• Expert NFL Picks
• Keep an eye on betting activity and bet/money distribution with our NFL Public Betting data

NBA Betting in Maine

 Boston Celtics

Founded in 1946 as one of the NBA's original franchises, the Celtics have 18 championships, the most in league history, having passed the Lakers with the 2024 title. Bill Russell, Larry Bird and Paul Pierce all wore the jersey. Maine has a direct line to the roster too: the Maine Celtics played in the G League in Portland for more than a decade.

The 2025–26 season was better than anyone expected even with Jayson Tatum missing the first 62 games after tearing his Achilles and the payroll stripped down, Boston still went 56–26, took a fifth straight division title and a 12th consecutive playoff berth, then blew a 3–1 lead and lost Game 7 at home to Philadelphia. Joe Mazzulla won Coach of the Year at 37. The bigger news came in July, when the Celtics traded Jaylen Brown, the 2024 Finals MVP, to the 76ers for Paul George and four draft picks.

Celtics Odds

To learn more about NBA betting:

• How to Bet on Basketball Guide

 MLB Betting in Maine

Boston Red Sox

Nine-time World Series champions, four of those titles coming between 2004 and 2018, the Red Sox are the summer team in Maine. Plenty of the players who turn up at Fenway pass through Portland's Hadlock Field first.

2026 turned around quickly. Boston fired Alex Cora on April 25 after a 10–17 start, along with five coaches, and handed the job to Triple-A Worcester manager Chad Tracy on an interim basis. Tracy has gone better than 50 games over .500 since, including a 15-game winning streak from July 3 to 22 that tied the 1946 franchise record, and has the Red Sox back in a wild-card position.

Red Sox Odds

MLB betting information:

• How to Bet on Baseball Guide

 NHL Betting in Maine

Boston Bruins

Hockey travels further in Maine than anywhere else in New England, and the Bruins are the state's team. Founded in 1924, Boston has six Stanley Cups, though only one this century, the 2011 win that ended a 39-year wait.

After missing the playoffs in 2024–25 for the first time in nine years, the Bruins hired former player Marco Sturm and bounced straight back. Boston went 45–27–10 for 100 points and grabbed a wild card, with David Pastrnak reaching 100 points, Morgan Geekie scoring 39 goals and Jeremy Swayman winning 31 games behind a power play that jumped from 29th to third in the league. The season ended in a first-round loss to Buffalo in six.

Bruins Odds

For more on NHL betting resources:

• How to Bet on Hockey Guide

 MLS Betting in Maine

New England Revolution

A charter MLS club that began play in 1996, the Revolution are still chasing a first MLS Cup, having lost all five finals they reached in 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2014. Their one major trophy remains the 2007 U.S. Open Cup.

2025 was a low point: 11th in the Eastern Conference, 23rd overall, and Caleb Porter dismissed with four games to play. Marko Mitrović was appointed in November and began his first season in February. The longer-term story is the stadium. On the last day of 2025 the Kraft Group reached agreements with Everett and Boston to build a roughly 25,000-seat, $500 million soccer-specific ground on a decommissioned power plant site along the Mystic River. The Revs stay at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough until it is built.

Soccer Odds

Here is a recommended resource to help you bet on the MLS:

• How to Bet on Soccer Guide

College Sports in Maine

Maine Black Bears - Football | Basketball

If you're from Maine and don't have your alma mater's colors in your house, you're probably rooting for the Black Bears. This could be a tough task at times, with the Black Bears men's basketball team being one of the small and select few teams in the nation to never play in March Madness. The University of Maine in Orono is the state's only Division I school, competing in the CAA in football and the America East in everything else.

Here's a list of college betting resources to help you bet on the Black Bears with confidence:

College Football

The Black Bears play at Alfond Stadium and have won four conference titles, most recently the CAA in 2018, when they reached the FCS semifinals. Jordan Stevens is entering his fifth season and delivered his best year in 2025, going 6–6 and 5–3 in the CAA after back-to-back 2–9 campaigns. #

The annual game against New Hampshire for the Brice–Cowell Musket is the fixture that matters most.

• College Football Betting Tips for Profitability
• College Football Betting Tips on Fading the Public
• Action Data/Tools: College Football Odds, Picks, & Projections

College Basketball

Maine remains one of a small number of programs never to appear in the NCAA Tournament. Chris Markwood came close to changing that in 2024–25, when the Black Bears went 20–14 for only their second winning season in 21 years and reached the America East final for the first time since 2004.

The follow-up was rough: 8–24 and 6–10 in conference play. Markwood is 56–72 in four seasons and plays home games at Memorial Gymnasium in Orono, with select dates at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.

• How to Bet on College Basketball
• Trends to Know Before Betting Conference Tournaments
• Action Data/Tools: College Basketball Odds & Picks

Remember, Maine law prohibits licensed sportsbooks from taking any wager on a game involving a Maine-based college program. That means the University of Maine Black Bears are off the board entirely for anyone betting inside the state, in football, basketball or any other sport, and it applies to tournament games featuring a Maine school wherever that tournament is played.

How does Maine compare to New Hampshire and Massachusetts?

Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts share borders and share almost nothing else about how they run sports betting.

The three adjacent states arrived at three completely different models, and the model is what decides whether it is worth you crossing a state line.

Is it worth crossing into New Hampshire or Massachusetts to bet?

For most people, no, and the reasoning matters more than the mileage.

• New Hampshire is pointless unless you are 18, 19 or 20.

You would drive across the border to use DraftKings, the same app you already have at home. The book is also paying 51 percent of its revenue to the state and facing no competition. There is no product gain and no price advantage; the sportsbook instead uses you to make up this gap. The only real reason to cross is age.

• Massachusetts is a genuine product upgrade, and only worth it for volume.

Seven licensed books means real line shopping, FanDuel and BetMGM access, and deeper in-play menus. But you will not get a drastically better price in Massachusetts. A round trip from Portland to the state line is roughly 80 miles. The trip pays only if you are staking thousands a month, and at that level you should be comparing residency, not day trips.

Geography decides the rest: about 90 minutes from Portland, four hours each way from Bangor, and not worth entertaining from Presque Isle. North of Augusta, treat the two Maine apps as your price line and shop the two books you have.

How are Maine betting winnings taxed?

Betting taxes are similar to much of the rest of the country, in that players face two separate types of tax, at the state and federal level.

The federal layer in Maine

All gambling winnings are taxable income, reported gross. What changed is the deduction. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act amended the Internal Revenue Code so that, for tax years beginning after December 31, 2025, you may deduct only 90 percent of your gambling losses, still capped at the winnings you reported.

Before 2026 the deduction was 100 percent up to winnings. The effect is that a bettor who wins and loses the same amount now has taxable income where they previously had none.

The Maine layer

Maine's 2026 income tax schedule runs 5.8, 6.75 and 7.15 percent.

Maine starts from federal adjusted gross income, which already includes your gross gambling winnings. The loss deduction, however, is a federal itemized deduction, and Maine applies its own cap on total itemized deductions. Two points therefore need saying plainly:

• You report gross winnings, not net profit. The sum of your winning wagers is the income figure, not what your account balance did over the year.

• You only get any benefit from the loss deduction if you itemize, and most filers take the standard deduction. If you do not itemize, you pay tax on gross winnings with no offset for losses at all.

What responsible gambling tools are available in Maine?

Maine has a somewhat limited list of responsible gambling tools, however there are always resources to help people in need, both nationally and at the state level:

• Call 211 in Maine.

• National Problem Gambling Helpline on 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537).

• Maine DHHS publishes problem gambling resources through the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

• The Maine Council on Problem Gambling maintains a directory of counselors trained in problem gambling.

Sportsbooks also run an extensive set of in-app and site protections designed to help gamblers control their play and stay safe. DraftKings and Caesars Sportsbook both have these available, and we recommend setting them when you set up an account:

• Deposit limits: how much you can deposit in a set period of time

• Wagering limits: how much you can spend in a set period of time

• Reality checks: a reminder if you have been playing for a lengthy period of time

• Time-outs: the site will lock you out for a set number of hours, days, or weeks

• Site self-exclusion: permanent exclusion from being able to use their services

Can I self-exclude from gambling in Maine?

Yes, you can, but Maine runs two separate exclusion lists, and the difference catches people out. Enrolling on one does not enroll you on the other.

A lifetime sports wagering exclusion in Maine is a ten-year commitment before you can even ask to be removed. It is the right decision for some people, but it is not reversible on a change of mind, which is why the rules require you to complete a one, three or five-year term first.

How to enroll for self-exclusion in Maine. There are four routes:

1. Online by video appointment. An appointment must be set with a Problem Gambling Services Coordinator.
2. In person at the Maine Gambling Control Unit, 45 Commerce Drive, Suite 5, Augusta.
3. In person at a licensed facility operator, or at one of the community locations listed.
4. Through the links published by the Gambling Control Unit and the operators themselves, which route to the problem gambling service provider for a virtual request.

You will need photo identification showing your name, current address and date of birth, and any open wagers and accounts must be settled and closed before you can be added.

The Gambling Control Unit then notifies operators of additions and deletions by password-protected email or fax and circulates the full list monthly. Operators are prohibited from disclosing the list, or the fact that you are on it, to anyone.

Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-Gambler.