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Vermont’s Senate has approved legislation for mobile sports betting, putting the Green Mountain State on the verge of being the second U.S. state to legalize sports wagering in 2023.
The Senate approved an amended version of House Bill 127 on Thursday (May 4) on a voice vote.
The bill authorizes the state's Department of Liquor and Lottery (DLL) to issue a request for proposals to select between two and six operators to offer mobile betting in the state.
However, the bill does specify that the DLL is empowered to select only one operator if there is just a lone applicant it finds qualified.
Applicants will competitively bid to set the revenue-share rate they would pay to the state, but the bill requires that rate to be at least 20 percent of adjusted gross revenue, which includes deductions for federal excise tax but does not include deductions for bonuses or promotional play.
One of the issues that has been a moving target throughout the legislative process is the license fee that selected operators would pay.
The House version of the bill, which the chamber approved last month, included a sliding scale that would reduce the license fee if a higher number of operators were selected, ranging from a $550,000 annual fee if one operator is licensed, down to $125,000 annually if the maximum six operators are selected.
The Senate amended the bill to eliminate that sliding scale, requiring a $550,000 upfront payment per operator regardless of how many are selected, but it also stipulated that the DLL and the operator could negotiate the renewal term and that the operator would not be required to pay the fee more than once in a three-year period.
“This hedges against any possible revenue shortfalls from initial projections in the first year covered by the upfront registration fees collected for the three-year operator term, while also discouraging any short-term market interest from registering as an operator for only a year or so,” said Senator Thomas Chittenden, a Democrat, on the Senate floor.
The Senate amendment also removed a provision from the House bill that would cap the amount of advertising spending by operators or by the DLL itself.
Democratic Senator Alison Clarkson said the amendment was the result of conversations with DLL commissioner Wendy Knight and members of a study committee that had reviewed the issue and made recommendations last year.
“They really wanted what was in the statute to be less prescriptive,” Clarkson said. “Every operator has to pass an advertising plan with the commissioner.
“Given all the concerns about problem gambling and who advertising is affecting, we are giving the commissioner the responsibility of negotiating a really strong advertising plan with each operator.”
The amended bill will need to be approved again by the House before it can go to Republican Governor Phil Scott for his signature. Scott has been a public supporter of sports-betting legalization and included anticipated tax revenue from sports wagering in his proposed state budget.
Clarkson said that if the bill passes as expected, the request for proposal (RFP) would be issued in July, with bids being submitted in August and licenses chosen through September.
The goal, she said, would be for the first bets to be taken in January 2024.
