Vermont Reports its Lowest Sports Betting Handle Since Launch

Ziv Chen

Last Updated: August 16, 2024 11:17 AM EDT • 1 min 55 sec read. Twitter link Google News Link

Vermont's Jackson Sirois makes the play as we look at Vermont's sports betting financials for July 2024. — Vermont's Jackson Sirois makes the play at short during the Lake Monsters' 4-1 win over the Brockton Rox in FCBL league play. Photo by: Al Frey/Special to the Free Press/USA TODAY Network.

The typical summer slowdown for our best sports betting sites has come for the Green Mountain State.

The Vermont Department of Liquor and Lottery (DLL) has published the state’s latest sports betting figures for July 2024. The state collected almost $9.5 million in wagers, the lowest handle since it launched legal sports betting in January.

However, at $1.2 million, adjusted gross revenue (AGR) was not the lowest for Vermont sports betting—it's 24.7% better month-on-month than the $922,968 collected in June. No month has the AGR surpassed Vermont’s inaugural month when it reached almost $3.6 million. February and the Super Bowl saw the highest handle, reporting $21.2 million.

July’s total resulted in $366,664 of taxes paid to the state, compared to $294,847 in June.

Baseball hits a home run

The report breaks down the handle by sport, revealing baseball as the most popular, generating $3.1 million of the handle. Tennis came in second place with $2.0 million, followed by soccer, which saw $1.0 million. With $948,198, basketball came in fourth place, and table tennis followed with $539,893. Residents have plenty of Vermont sportsbook promos to take advantage of.

Baseball was also the most popular sport in June as the MLB regular season continues from late March to late September. From February through May, basketball was most popular. The previous NBA regular season ran from October 24, 2023, to April 14, 2024. And amid the NFL postseason in January, football collected the highest handle of $7.5 million.

History Of Vermont sports betting

Legal sports betting in Vermont went live in Jan. 2024, making it the final state in New England to legalize it. In June 2023, Gov. Phil Scott signed House Bill 127 into law, allowing the DLL to set up a betting system with up to six companies.

Vermont is now home to three online sportsbooks – DraftKings, FanDuel, and Fanatics. All three arrived in the state on Jan. 11, the same day sports betting launched.

“We are pleased to have selected three of the industry’s top companies to offer Vermonters and visitors the opportunity to engage in mobile sports wagering in a fun and safe regulatory environment,” commented DLL commissioner Wendy Knight earlier this year.

As per Vermont law, each operator must pay at least 20% of their AGR in taxes, which goes towards various state causes, including responsible gambling.

Sports betting drives industry growth

Earlier this week, the American Gaming Association reported that US commercial gaming revenue achieved a record-breaking second quarter, with $17.63 billion. Compared with iGaming and land-based casinos, sports betting saw the highest year-on-year increase in revenue, up 35.3% to $3.16 billion. The rise was attributed to the introduction of new markets such as Kentucky sports betting, Maine sports betting, North Carolina sports betting, and, of course, Vermont.

Today, more than 30 states offer legal sports betting in some form, whether that’s online, retail, or both. In 2017, the US Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA), allowing states to determine their sports betting laws.

Written By:
Ziv Chen

Ziv has over two decades of experience in the igaming and sports betting industry, having served in senior marketing and business development positions with both B2C and B2B companies, including Playtech and Microgaming. In 2019, Ziv decided to pursue his passion for writing and became a fulltime industry journalist, covering casino, sports, and gambling business news. He’s specialties include casino games and technology, US state gambling regulation, company performance, as well as gambling affiliates and marketing. As a Pitt graduate, Ziv is a diehard fan of all Pittsburgh sports teams, with the Steelers at the top of the list. In his free time, he enjoys reading crime fiction, biographies (mainly of sports personalities, but not only) and American history. Ziv’s Favorite quote: “We're going to pursue perfection, knowing full well we won't catch it, but we're going to relentlessly chase it," Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach.