Vermont Sports Betting Committee Likely to Recommend Mobile Only Sports Betting

• The VT Sports Betting Study Committee is Scheduled to Recommend an Online Market

• Vermont Leaders Using New Hampshire’s Sports Wagering Market as Potential Model

• Vermont the only New England State Not to Have Legalized Sports Gambling.

The VT Sports Betting Study Committee is Scheduled to Recommend an Online Market.

Vermont is one of the 14 remaining U.S. states that still has not chosen to legalize, regulate, and tax its own sports betting market but it looks like that could change according to a report released last week by the state’s Sports Betting Study Committee (VSBSC).

We last reported on this story as the VSBSC was stuck trying to figure out what type of sports betting market it wanted to create, the choices being to launch a retail market, a mobile market, or a combination of both the way most of the other states with legal operations have done.

Now it looks like the VSBSC has made up its mind and according to that report by December they will be ready to recommend a mobile-only option for Vermont sports bettors, a smart move given the online option for placing bets has proven to be more lucrative than in-person betting.

Vermont is located in the northeastern part of the United States and the locals and tourists there enjoy the state’s natural landscape and its famous maple syrup but there is only one pro sports team there to root for – the Lake Monsters baseball team of Burlington.

However, Green Mountain State leaders have apparently noticed that most of the other New England States including New Hampshire have been enjoying an additional tax revenue stream by legalizing sports betting for their residents, and now it looks like Vermont may join in, too.

Vermont Leaders Using New Hampshire’s Sports Wagering Market as Potential Model

Golfers like to watch other golfers putt before them because it gives them a clearer idea of how to hit their own shot, and that is exactly what the VSBSC seems to have done using New Hampshire as its sports betting example to follow.

Last week, the VSBSC members invited some representatives of the New Hampshire Lottery Commission to speak regarding their own sports betting market which launched in December 2019 and has since generated about a $172.2 million handle.

Those Granite State reps explained to the VSBSC that 80% of that action came out of the mobile market, and that also holds true for the other U.S. states where that activity has been made legal, with most customers preferring to make their bets from the comfort of their couches.

VSBC Chair Wendy Knight reportedly told the media that her group will most likely consider “the eventual introduction of land-based sportsbooks” but that might not take place for several years after successful mobile market launches there.

“If that’s our recommendation, to start with mobile sports betting, I think you need to give that some time to see how that plays out in Vermont and to see the successes.”

Vermont the only New England State Not to Have Legalized Sports Gambling

What Vermont lawmakers have no doubt concluded is that they are missing out on a potential revenue stream that most of their New England Neighbors are already enjoying, including Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and soon Massachusetts.

Vermont may only have about 645k residents, but chances are many of them are sports fans who might enjoy placing a few wagers on their favorite teams and players, so it makes sense to give them a convenient (taxable) way to do that with those proceeds benefiting the state.