Lawmakers in Vermont have got the ball rolling on bringing legal sports betting to their state.
House bill 127 was introduced on Tuesday and referred to the chamber’s committee on government operations and military affairs.
The bill was put forward by Rep. Matthew Birong, a member of a committee set up to study and report on whether and how to regulate sports betting in Vermont. The committee completed its study in December, and H. 127 follows the recommendations in the report.
Taking recommendations
For starters, the legislation proposes two to six mobile sportsbook operators for the state. However, if an insufficient number of qualified applicants bid for a license, the state could have a single operator of sports betting sites.
The Department of Liquor and Lottery will regulate legal sports betting in the state, and the commissioner of liquor and lottery will select the operators through a competitive bidding process. Operators will hand over a share of their revenue to the department, with that percentage determined via bidding. Bookmakers will have to pay an annual license fee of $275,000 as well.
According to the bill, bettors must be 18 or older and physically present in Vermont to wager. Players will not be allowed to use credit cards to place wagers either.
Most sports will be fair game for action, but Vermont bettors would be prohibited from wagering on events involving colleges in the state unless those teams are playing in a tournament.
The follow-through
The introduction of legislation this week puts Vermont on track to join the rest of New England in legalizing sports betting. It also follows up on the work of the sports betting study committee, which found that the state's interests "would be best served" by legalizing sports betting.
Among other things, the committee said a legal market for sports wagering would help convert illegal wagering in the state into regulated play, offer consumers with more protection, and provide the state with revenue. The report concluded that the state shouldn't offer its own sports-betting platform through the lottery, as other states have had trouble implementing such a model.
“Instead, the Committee determined that the State would be best served by conducting a competitive bidding process, which would allow the Department to select the most qualified operators based on the State’s institutional priorities,” the report noted. “The Committee found that the control states that used a bidding process were more successful at finding high quality operators and efficiently introducing an active and robust market.”
The committee also noted that the state’s population is relatively spread out. Vermont lacks the gaming infrastructure of other states too, as it has no casinos or racetracks, leading to the recommendations of an all-mobile market at first.
“Based on the testimony and evidence presented by experts and regulators, the Committee has found that the best option for Vermont is to first open the sports wagering market with mobile and online wagering,” the report said. “The Committee then recommends that the Department of Liquor and Lottery could conduct a feasibility study to determine whether retail wagering could be viable in certain locations.”
