Vermont Senate approves bill to legalise online betting

The Vermont Senate approved an amended bill to legalise digital sports betting on Wednesday, pushing it to a third reading.

The bill will only permit online betting, with a maximum of six platforms and a minimum of two in the state.

The Vermont Senate Committee ordered a third reading of H127 after a series of amendments made by the House and Senate, which included the advertising rules, taxing winnings and fees.

The bill’s supporters can expect a third reading as early as Thursday; then, the House committee will need to agree with alterations by the Senate and send the measure to Governor Phil Scott for his signature.

If H127 is signed into law, residents of Vermont will be able to legally place sports bets via apps by January 2024.

Vermont will also become the third USA state to legalise only online betting, following Tennessee in 2019 and Wyoming in 2021, and the last New England state to do so.

The second reading consisted of amendments, one of which required mobile sportsbooks to seek the approval of the Vermont Department of Liquor and Lottery for their advertising plans. A second amendment pushed for a ban on sports betting ads on products that appealed to individuals younger than 21.

According to Brianne Doura-Schawohl, a problem and responsible gambling advocate, the state had spent several years contemplating the legalisation of sports betting.

“They have done their due diligence in studying and analysing what they feel is best for the state. In its current format, the bill outlines some of the strongest funding provisions for problem gambling in the US and ample customer protections,” she said.

The amended bill also made changes to the fee operators were required to pay for a licence. According to a Senate Appropriations amendment, gaming operators were required to pay a licence fee of $500,000 in their first year.

If the state licensed two operators, they would pay 412,500 over the next three years, while three operators would pay $366,666 and four would pay $343,750. Five operators in the state are required to pay a licencing fee of $330,000, while six will turn in $320,833 each.

Other than the licencing fees, sports betting sites in Vermont will need to pay a percentage of their revenue to the state. The Department of Liquor and Lottery will need to agree on a revenue sharing rate with the two to six online operators, which will go no lower than 20% of their adjusted gross gaming revenue.

H127 was also amended to increase the penalties for unlicensed online operators and prohibit the use of terms like “risk-free” or “free” when marketing promotional bets. There were also technical changes to the state’s income tax on betting and its sports betting rollout timeline.

According to the Joint Fiscal Office, Vermont could receive as much as $2 million from sports betting in 2024. By 2025, the figure will increase to between $4.6 million and $10.6 million.

Out of the amount, problem gambling programs will be issued $250,000 in 2024 and $550,000 in the following years, with the rest allocated to the general fund.

More gambling news