In fact, aside from Nevada, from the 1890s until the 1970s, nearly every form of gambling aside from horse and dog racing was illegal almost everywhere in the U.S.Ĭlipping from 2003, via the Bangor Daily News archives on. You can play slot machines and table games at casinos in Bangor and Oxford you can bet on horse races and sports games and you can play the lottery, both state-run and national.īut 50 years ago, gambling beyond on-site betting at race tracks - even the lottery - was illegal in Maine. Today, nearly all forms of gambling are legal in Maine, including sports betting, which went live last week.

Send your questions to years ago this week, 53 percent of Maine voters in the 2003 election legalized slot machines in Maine, through the creation of a “racino” connected to Bangor’s Bass Park harness racing track. Hard Telling Not Knowing each week tries to answer your burning questions about why things are the way they are in Maine - specifically about Maine culture and history, both long ago and recent, large and small, important and silly.