With little fanfare or discussion, the Vermont Department of Lottery Board of Directors unanimously approved “enhanced procedures” for sports betting with the understanding that the regulations may be amended going forward.
Toward the end of the 12-minute meeting, Lottery Commissioner Wendy Knight answered questions about whether any kind of wagering on horse racing would be allowed. Knight said that parimutuel wagering is explicitly illegal in Vermont and will be not be on the state’s bet menu.
So far, the lottery has received written public comments from five stakeholders, most recently BetMGM and the geolocation service GeoComply.
Operators have pushed back on some procedures, and Knight told the board Monday that her staff has incorporated some suggested language from the public comments that would offer “clarity and didn’t conflict with the law.” Any reference to “business days” has already been or will be changed to “calendar days,” and the words “shall” and “may” were updated where needed.
Staff did not address comments regarding issues that “exist in other states and are becoming the industry strandard,” Knight said, but the latest version of the procedures shows that at least some of the public comments have been added. The procedures can continue to be massaged as legal wagering moves forward.
Vermont just legalized sports betting, so we put together this handy Q&A to walk you through how it's going to work --> https://t.co/nLERnLnyjF #vtpoli
— April McCullum (@april_mccullum) June 16, 2023
The lottery posted updated procedures Friday that included suggestions from some operators. While multiple operators have asked for a change to the rule requiring them to provide source code to Gaming Laboratories International during the testing and certification process, that requirement remains intact — for now.
