Vermont Online Sports Betting Bill Heads to Senate

• A bill to legalize Vermont sports betting was approved by the House
• The bill was approved by a voice vote in the House, a rarity for sports betting legislation
• If legalized, Vermont would allow up to six online sports betting operators

A Vermont online sports betting bill had a more successful March than the University of Vermont Catamounts.

Rep. Matthew Birong’s (D-3) online sports betting bill, H.127,  was approved by the House of Representatives last week by a voice vote on the chamber floor, a rarity for the usually contentious bills, and will next head to the Senate.

The bill was introduced in January about two months after a study committee recommended Vermont legalize sports betting in the 2023 legislative session.

Sports Betting Now In Senate’s Hands

The House approval of Birong’s bill is the first time a Vermont legislative chamber has approved a sports betting bill. The Senate will now consider H.127, which seeks to only legalize online sports betting in the Green Mountain State.

During the bill’s brief discussion on the House floor only one representative spoke up and said he would not be voting for the bill.

The bill was moved to the Senate, but has not been assigned to a committee as of yet.

Birong’s bill, H.127, will authorize at a minimum two online sports betting licenses and a maximum of six licenses if approved by the state legislatures. Each license will carry an annual fee of $275,000 for an operator.

The state’s Department of Liquor and Lottery will regulate sports betting and award licenses. Interested operators will have to go through a “competitive bidding process” to receive a license. Much like New York’s competitive bidding process, operators will have to submit bid packages to the department that include a proposed online sports betting tax rate they would be willing to pay to operate in the state.

Other mandated information in a bid package is an estimate of the applicant’s potential gross sports wagering revenue, the number of individually-branded websites the operator proposes for sports betting operations, a responsible gaming plan, and a plan for maximizing sustainable, long-term revenue for the state through a detailed market analysis.

Collegiate sports betting will be allowed in the bill, unless it includes an event in which a participant is a college team or institution that is located in Vermont.

Study Committee Recommends Vermont Sports Betting

The bill took suggestions from the 2022 Sports Betting Study Committee, a nine-member group, that met in the fall and formally submitted a report urging the legalization of sports betting in the state.

The committee unanimously agreed that Vermont would be “best served by legalizing sports wagering” and should established a state-controlled market. The committee recommended that Vermont adopt a sports betting program similar to New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, where the state would select sports betting operators through a “competitive bidding process.”

The committee did not recommend that Vermont offer its own sports wagering platform through the state lottery, noting that state’s which have adopted such a strategy suffer from “slow implementation, lower customer engagement, and lower revenue generation.”

It was recommended that the Department of Liquor and Lottery control the state’s sports betting program and offer exclusive contracts to sports betting operators, as there is no other regulated gaming in the state. The committee did find that Vermont residents are already engaging in sports betting through unregulated means and a regulated market would offer protections and services to potential problem gamers that are not currently available.