The official running Maine’s sports betting rollout was placed on one week of unpaid leave following an investigation into a tweet that he issued containing a sexist slur.

Milton Champion, the executive director of the Gambling Control Unit within the Maine Department of Public Safety, tweeted in early May about a recent comment made to him about how referring to a group of women as “ladies” was not appropriate.

“In this day and age I guess ‘Bitches’ is better,” he wrote.

An investigation by the Bureau of Human Resources concluded that the tweet reflected negatively on the reputation of the Gambling Control Unit, Maine Department of Public Safety spokesperson Shannon Moss said Friday.

Commissioner Michael Sauschuck of the Maine Department of Public Safety recommended that Champion be placed on a 40-hour suspension without pay, as well as participate in the state’s workplace harassment and social media training.

Champion, who has served the required suspension, will return to work on Monday, when he will receive the required training.

“While the two tweets were intended to be humorous, I recognize they were anything but. They were a mistake and an error in judgment, and I apologize for my actions,” Champion said in a Friday statement.

The account that the tweet was issued from has since been deactivated.

Champion has worked as Maine’s top gaming regulator since 2016. The most public part of his tenure has been in overseeing the implementation of sports betting in Maine under   a law signed in 2021 by Gov. Janet Mills. It sets aside a new mobile betting market for tribes and allows casinos and off-track betting parlors to control a smaller in-person handle.