Maine’s sports bettors are crying foul after the state’s governor vetoed legislation that would have authorized wagering within its bettors.

Late Friday afternoon – the traditional dumping ground for dodgy political announcements – the office of Gov. Janet Mills said she’d vetoed the LD 553 sports betting bill that state lawmakers had approved way back in June 2019.

Mills’ lengthy veto message said she respected the time and effort that lawmakers had put into crafting and approving LD 553, but she said she remains “unconvinced at this time that the majority” of the state’s residents are ready to “legalize, support, endorse and promote betting on competitive athletic events.”

Mills said her state wasn’t ready to “join the frenzy” of states that have approved wagering since the US Supreme Court struck down the federal betting ban in May 2018. “The Supreme Court said we could regulate it; but that does not mean we have to.”