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Vermont sports bettors are one step closer to placing legal bets in the Green Mountain State.
The Vermont Department of Liquor and Lottery (DLL) revealed that five prominent operators submitted bids for online sports wagering licenses by the Sept. 6 deadline the DLL set.
The DLL extended the deadline from Aug. 28 to Sept. 6 and will now review the applicants and announce its selections in the coming weeks.
Who are the 5 Vermont sports betting license bidders?
The five companies that submitted bids are:
- BetMGM
- DraftKings (through Crown VT Gaming)
- FanDuel (through Betfair Interactive)
- Penn Sports Interactive
- Fanatics (through FBG Enterprises Opco)
Vermont’s sports betting regulators now have an impressive list to work through as they decide who, if any company, gets a license.
Per the DLL’s regulations for sports betting, the maximum number of sports betting operators it can license is six. Conversely, it’s under no obligation to choose any of the sportsbook operators that submitted proposals.
How the DLL will rate BetMGM, DraftKings, FanDuel, Penn, and Fanatics
The DLL will review each of the five proposals it received based on a 1,000-point scale.
Companies will earn 100 points simply by submitting a revenue estimate that includes supporting evidence. All five companies should have no issue earning these points.
Another 100 points are up for grabs based on how much revenue the companies are willing to share with the state. By law, companies have to pay at least a 20% tax rate, but they can earn the full 100 points if they commit to at least a 51% tax rate.
Considering Vermont’s small market size compared to other states, we may not see any of the five operators offer to pay a 51% rate.
The remaining 800 points are earned through meeting certain technical, security, and responsible gaming requirements.
The DLL will likely reveal which companies will receive licenses sometime in the next month, or possibly in the next week.
Small Vermont sports betting market means fighting for market share
If all goes as planned, Vermont will launch online sports betting on Jan. 1, 2024. Between now and then, the DLL has to choose its licensees, and those companies will have to prepare for the Jan. 1 launch.
A market comprised of all five applicants would be ideal for bettors, as they’d have multiple options to try and (most likely) multiple new-user promos to choose from.
From an operator’s perspective, though, five sportsbooks in such a small state would be a tough sell. FanDuel and DraftKings typically capture at least 80% of the market share in whichever state they both operate.
That leaves 20% for smaller books like BetMGM, Penn, and Fanatics; fighting for a small slice of a small market may not be worth the effort.
