The vision for legal sports betting in Vermont is still very much up in the air.
While Vermont’s Sports Betting Study Committee favors the legalization of event wagering in the state, it has yet to settle on what kind of wagering should be allowed, including whether there should be online sports betting.
“We have not yet decided whether to recommend only online gaming, retail, or both,” committee chair Wendy Knight said during a meeting on Tuesday. “I think that those questions need to be addressed first before we can then really understand whether or not we want to recommend [an] existing administrative structure or a new administrative structure.”
Who wants what, where, and when?
The “when” of legal sports betting in Vermont is unsettled as well, although it appears to be trending toward next year’s football season. The legislature is set to convene again in January, and it’s then that lawmakers will have another opportunity to craft a bill that would authorize wagering in the state.
Another committee member, Rep. Matthew Birong, said they have yet to consider an ideal launch date.
“If this does pass next session, that's like a July 1, probably, implementation date of everything,” Birong said during the meeting. “Are we, theoretically, best-case scenario saying [we are] up and running [for the] kickoff [of] football season next year?”
Knight noted that research has shown that the "prime" time for sports betting is in the fall with the National Football League and state colleges playing games. However, the chair said there is a looming question about the possibility of a “staggered” launch for sports betting, too.
“Do we start with online gaming and then evaluate to go to a retail market?” Knight asked. “Do we take it in phases?”
Much to think about
The questions still to be answered about sports betting in Vermont come as it remains the only New England state without any authorized form of event wagering. Maine and Massachusetts took steps this past legislative session to legalize sports betting, but Vermont politicians only formed their committee, which continues to consider the matter.
The committee heard on Tuesday from the chair of the state's Cannabis Control Board, gaining some perspective about the legalization of another previously illegal activity. Still, there are key differences between weed and wagering, such as the fact that the former remains illegal at the federal level.
Sen. Dick Sears pointed out that Vermont lacks the same sort of gambling-related infrastructure as neighboring states. There are no casinos in Vermont, no horse-racing tracks, and no online casino gambling.
“I would agree that we start with online and then evaluate or have further study of how to implement … retail sites,” Sears said. “Because the problem is we do have a number of places but we don't have the casino or the kiosks, the off-track betting, those types of places … [where] the infrastructure is already there.”
Knight said that she will bring more information regarding the need for new or existing administrative infrastructure to the next meeting and that they will discuss the retail-versus-online question then as well.
“And we're still considering both, and maybe it's staggered, but I think more on that,” the chair said.
The Sports Betting Study Committee is scheduled to meet again on October 18.
