Vermont sports betting regulators recently provided under public records law the scoring data used to select three online sportsbooks in the state.
LSR submitted a public records request for evaluations of the VT sports betting applicants. FanDuel Sportsbook received the highest score, 3,703 points out of a possible 4,000, for its application submitted last September.
DraftKings (3,638 points) and Fanatics (3,418 points) also received sports betting licenses based on their scoring. BetMGM (3,033 points) and Penn Entertainment, which did not receive a score for its ESPN Bet app submission, were not selected.
Vermont sports betting scorecard
The Vermont Department of Liquor and Lottery (DLL) had nine areas where sportsbooks would earn points for their bids:
- Company experience, resources, financial stability: up to 100 points
- Company integrity and ethics: up to 80 points
- General design and implementation of sports betting product: up to 120 points
- Strength of the sports betting hardware and software: up to 140 points
- Strength of the bidder’s sports betting services: up to 140 points
- Bidder’s compliance program: up to 60 points
- Responsible Gambling: up to 140 points
- Accounting and audit program: up to 20 points
- Revenue criteria: up to 200 points
With four department scorers in each category, the potential Vermont sports betting apps could receive up to 4,000 points.
VT sports betting apps ranked
FanDuel and DraftKings scored highest for company experience, earning 395 of a possible 400 points.
Fanatics, meanwhile, took top honors for ethics and integrity with 315 out of a possible 320 points.
FanDuel led the responsible gaming category with 550 points, followed by DraftKings and Fanatics. BetMGM earned 490 out of a possible 560 points in this category.
Revenue framework not accepted
According to VT sports betting regulators, BetMGM’s application missed critical revenue criteria.
Its proposal offered a scaled revenue-sharing approach that changed based on the total number of operators accepted. This was not an allowable framework.
According to the evaluation criteria, operators had to submit a revenue plan with at least 20% of adjusted gross sports wagering revenue being sent back to the state. BetMGM declined to comment on its VT sports betting application when reached Wednesday.
PENN application ruled ‘non-compliant’
PENN Entertainment received zero points for its submission. Charles Martin, DLL director of communications, told LSR Penn’s application for ESPN Bet was “materially non-compliant” after missing three key criteria:
- Litigation bond of $500,000 to cover damages if the sportsbook sued the state over the RFP process
- Sample House Rules
- GLI-33 Certification
PENN did not respond to a request for comment. An industry source familiar with the application told LSR that these items are standard in most RFP processes or general license applications.
With PENN migrating from Kambi to its own tech stack in July, the Kentucky sports betting launch in September, and the rebrand from Barstool to ESPN in the fall, the source said it is reasonable to say the missing criteria likely were an oversight in the RFP submission.
VT sports betting projections boosted
The three Vermont sports betting apps generated $5.9 million in revenue between January 11 and February 29.
The state has collected $1.9 million in sports betting taxes over that time, which prompted regulators to upgrade their fiscal projections.
Regulators now expect sports betting to generate $8 million in tax revenue through the first 12 months. It is $1 million more than the original $7 million forecast.
