📰BIDDEFORD | Malon introduces bill to protect Maine consumers from gambling addiction

January 22, 2026, Yesterday, Rep. Marc Malon (D-Biddeford), presented LD 2080 before the Legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee. The bill would provide an additional safeguard to Mainers struggling with gambling addiction by prohibiting the use of credit cards in online sports betting.

Rep. Marc Malon, D-Biddeford, presents LD 2080 before the Legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee

There are currently two gambling companies that operate online sports wagering in Maine: DraftKings and Caesars Palace. The latter has already implemented a company rule that prohibits the use of credit cards for gambling, while the former has its own branded credit card and allows users to use “reward points” for sports betting.

“Legal and regulated gaming creates jobs and provides significant revenue to our state,” said Malon. “But as the popularity of sports wagering grows and as iGaming comes online, the Legislature must prioritize measures that balance sports betting’s economic benefits with modest guardrails to protect Mainers from addiction and falling into debt. This bill strikes that balance.”

According to research, enabling credit card payments for online betting and sports gambling contributes to higher wagering amounts, increased rate of compulsive gambling and greater financial consequences, as people can more easily accumulate debt. There are currently seven states, including Maine’s neighbors of New Hampshire and Massachusetts, that already have this prohibition in place.

The Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee will hold a work session on this bill in the coming weeks, where an amendment will be introduced to ensure that Maine’s newly implemented iGaming is included in the bill language.

Rep. Malon is serving his second term in Maine’s House of Representatives and represents a portion of Biddeford. He serves on the Housing and Economic Development Committee and the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee.