Vermont regulators are retracing their steps a bit as part of their work to get legal sports betting off the ground in the Green Mountain State.
The Vermont Board of Liquor and Lottery met Wednesday and reviewed and approved an update to the state’s procedures for conducting criminal background checks for individuals involved in its coming sports betting industry.
Board members approved background investigation rules in July, but Wendy Knight, commissioner of the Department of Liquor and Lottery (DLL), said Wednesday that they were too broad. Anyone who is or will be employed by a current or prospective Vermont sportsbook operator would need to submit to a background investigation to ensure they have “a suitable character” to perform their duties, according to the text of the previous procedures.
“As we are discussing the contract with the operators, it's become apparent that the original language cast a much wider net of the personnel that are required to submit criminal background checks,” Knight said during Wednesday’s meeting. “So we are asking that we narrow the scope to be … the manager-level decision makers because the existing criminal background check procedures … it would require hundreds of employees. And that's not our intention, nor is it necessary.”
Getting closer ...
The liquor board heard that the procedures wouldn’t extend to subcontractor employees, but that the winning sportsbook bidders would still be responsible for meeting all of the obligations under their agreement with the state whether or not they contract out work themselves. Board members then voted to approve the updated background-check procedures.
Wednesday’s decision is yet another step toward launching legal sports betting in Vermont, which may still be a few months away. The request-for-proposals document published by the state earlier this year suggested event wagering won’t start until January at the earliest.
There is still some haggling left to do before then. The sports betting bill passed by Vermont lawmakers in June of this year envisions two to six online sportsbooks in the state. Who those operators are will be decided through a competitive bidding process and five submitted applications: BetMGM, DraftKings, ESPN BET, Fanatics, and FanDuel.
“This legislation empowers the [liquor and lottery] Commissioner to negotiate and contract a minimum of two but not more than six operators to operate a sportsbook in Vermont through a mobile sports wagering platform,” the RFP said. “If the competitive bidding process fails to produce a sufficient number of qualified bidders, the [Department of Liquor and Lottery] may decline to authorize any operators or authorize a single operator to conduct a sportsbook.”
