5 Online Sports Betting Operators Apply for Vermont Licenses

• The Vermont Department of Liquor and Lottery received five applications from sports betting operators.
• BetMGM, DraftKings, ESPN BET, Fanatics, and FanDuel all applied for an online sports betting license in Vermont.
• Legal Vermont sports betting is expected to launch in January 2024.

MONTPELIER, Vt. – The Vermont Department of Liquor and Lottery (DLL) received five applications for online sports betting licenses. Vermont issued a request for proposal on July 19 and required responses by August 28.

There five legal sports betting operators who responded are:

• BetMGM
• DraftKings Sportsbook
• ESPN BET
• Fanatics Betting & Gaming
• FanDuel Sportsbook

A surprising non-applicant is Caesars Sportsbook, who is legal in 20 states and consume a higher market share than Fanatics and ESPN BET. ESPN BET, formerly known as Barstool Sportsbook, is the newly re-branded betting platform for PENN Entertainment.

Perhaps Caesars didn’t want to participate in the unique grading system that grades applicants based on technical and revenue criteria. Applicants are graded on a 1,000-point scale that determines their likelihood of being granted a license.

Vermont’s One-of-a-Kind Evaluation Criteria

The technical criteria includes experience, financial stability, strength of product, and other simple criteria that legal online sportsbooks as massive as FanDuel or DraftKings would have no problem with.

The issue comes from the revenue criteria, as operators are more likely to be granted an online sports betting license if they’re willing to sacrifice a higher revenue percentage. For smaller sportsbooks like Fanatics Betting & Gaming, offering a higher percentage of their Vermont sports betting revenue to the state increases their chances of being accepted while hurting their profits.

A full breakdown of the unique evaluation criteria can be found in the request for proposal on the Department of Liquor and Lottery’s website. The document also claims that Legal Vermont sports betting will start on January 1, 2024.

Expect Vermont to launch legal sports betting right in time for the NFL playoffs.

News tags: BetMGM | Caesars | Department of Liquor and Lottery | DraftKings | ESPN BET | Fanatics | FanDuel | Penn Entertainment | Vermont