A trio of Vermont lawmakers want the state to abandon sports betting just over a year after legal sports wagering launched in the state.
Rep. Thomas Stevens’ House Bill 133, supported by co-sponsors Rep. Troy Headrick and Rep. Michael Mrowicki, would repeal the statutes that authorize not only online sports betting but also the state lottery. The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs.
Vermont was the final New England state to legalize online sports betting, back in mid-2023, and it launched its market in January 2024.
The state initially partnered with DraftKings, FanDuel and Fanatics to operate within the state, though the law allows for up to six platforms. BetMGM and ESPN Bet also submitted applications to go live when the market launched but were turned down. Operators pay 20% of their adjusted gross receipts to the state as tax.
Headrick said last week that he supports the bill because he believes gambling is “predatory” and has a disproportionate negative effect on lower-income people and compromises their financial security and health.
No state has walked back its own lottery or sports betting legalization since the repeal of PASPA in 2018. The odds of the bill passing appear very slim, and it would have to be approved in both the House and the Senate and be signed off by Gov. Phil Scott.
First year of sports betting yields millions for Vermont
In its first year, it took $198.7 million of sports wagers and operators made combined gross revenues of $21.9 million, according to figures released by the state Department of Liquor and Lottery.
That activity yielded more than $6 million for the state in the market’s first 12 months, slightly below the first-year projection of $7 million.
The state also noted that nearly 30% of Vermont’s sports betting handle in 2024 came from out-of-state bettors. One of the motivations for the legalization of sports betting was that many state residents were already crossing into other New England states to bet via mobile apps.
In January 2025, the first month for which a year-over-year comparison is possible, Vermont’s sports wagering handle was up 19.8%. However, the market only launched 11 days into January 2024, so it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison.
State launched RG website amid sports betting concerns
Midway through last year, the Vermont Department of Mental Health launched a responsible gambling website that aims to provide residents with resources to prevent and treat sports betting and other gambling addictions.
The government said in July that it intended to primarily serve the estimated 11,000-plus Vermonters with a gambling disorder.
“We obviously had lottery and scratch-offs which there are people that become addicted to those as well,” said the department’s Medical Director Dr. Kelley Klein at the time. “But we knew that when online sports betting went live we would have a rise in individuals that were at least at risk for problem gambling or gambling addiction.”
