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After passing a budget hurdle Friday, Vermont online sports betting legislation could finally be headed for a Senate floor vote.
H.127 had been held over in the Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday amid questions about problem gambling funding in the sports betting bill. Today, the committee amended the bill to allow for recommendations for problem gambling funding in fiscal year (FY) 2025 and FY 2026, rather than budgeting specific amounts now.
While the budget committee decided against appropriating $500,000 in FY 2025 and five percent of state sports wagering revenues annually beginning in FY 2026 for problem gambling as proposed by other legislative committees, it did agree to $250,000 in problem gambling funding for FY 2024. That funding would go to the Department of Mental Health from state sports wagering revenues, should H.127 become law this spring.
Additionally, the Senate Appropriations Committee agreed to a House proposal of $550,000 to support sports wagering regulation and operations by the Department of Liquor and Lottery (DLL). It also added $100,000 to fund the digital creation of a Vermont sports wagering self-exclusion program.
The bill now goes to the Senate floor for approval, unless referred to another committee. It must return to the House for final passage if anended by the Senate.
Recommendation ‘Fine’ With State Gaming Regulator
Recommendations for “a specific appropriation” for problem gambling in FY 2025 and a “minimum appropriation or percentage” beginning in FY 2026 would be considered by the Vermont legislature next year, the committee decided today. Funding would be based on a financial report provided to lawmakers by DLL and the Department of Mental Health by Jan. 15, 2024.
The only specific appropriation for problem gambling agreed to by the committee was the $250,000 for FY 2024.
That’s as far as the committee wanted to go without knowing how much Vermont sports betting would actually generate. A state fiscal note shows that online sports betting could generate between $4.6 million and $10.6 million for the state in FY 2025, with less revenue in FY 2024.
Senate budget chair Jane Kitchel, D-Danville, said she wants DLL and the Department of Mental Health to work on a problem gambling plan before Vermont invests more money upfront.
“We are saying work together in this collaborative way, and report back to us in January of 2024 how the prevention plan would operate, what would be funded, and how we as a state are going to be addressing the issue of problem gambling,” Kitchel said before the Senate Appropriations vote today.
That was fine with DLL Commissioner Wendy Knight, who had asked the budget committee in a letter Thursday to fund problem gambling at five percent of sports wagering revenue starting in FY 2026 to shore up state resources.
She said in her letter that a five percent share would “ensure a sustainable revenue stream for problem gambling and to organically increase funding as the market grows.”
By Friday afternoon, Knight said substituting the recommendation would be okay with her agency. “That’s fine. I understand the difference and we’re fine with that,” she told the committee.
Vermont Gaming Regulator Says Timing is ‘Critical’ for Legal Sports Betting
Knight seems focused now on getting H.127 through the Vermont legislature in the two weeks left this session.
She has repeatedly said in committee hearings that legal sports wagering is important to the administration of Vermont Gov. Phil Scott.
“Time is critical with the sports wagering bill,” Knight wrote in her letter Thursday. “The sooner the General Assembly passes the bill, the sooner DLL can set up the regulated market.
“We need time for public hearings, notices, Board meetings, RFPs, bid evaluations, operator presentations, contractor negotiations, personnel recruitment, et al,” Knight wrote. “I know the Committee shares the Administration’s commitment to legalizing — at long last — sports wagering in Vermont.”
Vermont online sports betting would likely launch by Dec. 2023 under H.127. Between two and six online sportsbooks would be authorized to launch by the end of the year, per the bill.
H.127 passed the Vermont House of Representatives on March 24. The Senate must act on the bill soon if it is to pass before the session’s end on May 12.
