Legal since January 2024, and online-only by design — the law authorises sportsbooks solely through a mobile platform, so no retail sportsbook exists or can. Three apps operate: DraftKings, FanDuel and Fanatics. Rather than set a tax rate, Vermont made operators bid a share of their revenue, landing at 31% to 33% each. You must be 21.
Legal and properly regulated since 2017, now overseen by the Department of Liquor and Lottery with the Attorney General enforcing. Operators register annually. Note the split that trips people up: daily fantasy is 18 and over in Vermont, while sports betting is 21.
Legal since 1978, with profits going to the state Education Fund — draw games, scratch tickets and Fast Play, for players 18 and over. Vermont runs Megabucks jointly with New Hampshire and Maine through the Tri-State Lotto Commission. There are no online ticket sales and no courier apps.
Legal for established nonprofits — raffles, bingo, card games and occasional casino events — but as a statutory exemption rather than a licensing scheme, so there’s no permit to apply for. Prizes are capped at 400 dollars per game and 1,000 dollars a day, with limited exceptions a few days a year.
None, and no route to one. Vermont has no commercial casinos, no racinos and no tribal casinos — the state’s four recognised Abenaki bands are recognised by Vermont but not by the federal government, so federal Indian gaming law never applies. A 2026 bill to license up to two casinos died in committee.
There is nowhere legal to play. Vermont has no casinos or card rooms, and — unlike almost every other state — it has no social-gambling exemption, so a private home game is technically illegal for everyone at the table, not just the host. A 2026 bill to permit a handful of poker events a year died in committee.
Not legal — and unusually, not even under discussion. No online casino or online poker bill has ever been introduced in Vermont. There is no licensed site and no study, task force or proposal in progress.
Banned outright, including simulcast — Vermont specifically prohibits holding, operating or simulcasting a pari-mutuel race, carrying the harshest penalty in its gambling chapter. Green Mountain Park closed in 1992 and there has been no racing since. Treat online horse-betting apps as unauthorised here.
A gray area. Vermont has not banned sweepstakes casinos and no bill has been introduced — they lean on a general 1989 law allowing contests where entrants aren’t required to risk money. That’s tolerance by omission, not approval, and no Vermont ruling has endorsed the model.
Seven gambling bills were filed across the two-year session — casinos, poker events, online lottery sales twice over, and a measure to restrict prediction markets. All seven died in their first committee without a vote before the legislature adjourned in May.
One representative introduced a bill to repeal the statutes authorising both the state lottery and sports wagering outright. It went nowhere — but it’s a fair marker of where Vermont’s appetite for gambling expansion sits.
Vermont took its first legal bets on January 11, among the last states in the country to launch. Three apps went live, with no retail sportsbook anywhere in the state.
Governor Phil Scott signed H.127 in June, authorising between two and six mobile sportsbooks. Instead of setting a tax rate, the state made operators compete on the share of revenue they would hand over — the winning bids came in at 31% to 33%.
Vermont formally regulated daily fantasy contests, with operators registering and paying an annual fee — a framework later folded into the Department of Liquor and Lottery.
Vermont’s lottery began in 1978. Seven years later it joined New Hampshire and Maine to launch Tri-State Megabucks — the first multi-state lottery game in the United States, years before Powerball existed.
Vermont is the clearest example in the country of a state that legalised sports betting and nothing else. Mobile betting arrived in January 2024 — among the last states to launch — and daily fantasy is properly regulated. Beyond that, the list runs out fast: no casinos, no card rooms, no racinos, no live or simulcast horse racing, and no online casino or poker.
On iGaming, Vermont isn’t just behind — it hasn’t started. No online casino or online poker bill has ever been introduced here. There’s no study, no task force and no proposal in progress. Compare that with Pennsylvania, Michigan and New Jersey, which license full online casinos, or neighbouring Maine, which legalised online casino gaming in 2026 — Vermont has never had the debate. And the direction of travel is telling: across the 2025-2026 session, seven gambling bills were filed and all seven died in their first committee, including one to license casinos, one to allow a few poker tournaments a year, and two to permit online lottery sales. One representative went the other way entirely and proposed repealing the lottery and sports betting altogether.
For poker players, Vermont is among the strictest states in the country, in a way that surprises people. It has no social-gambling exemption at all — and its law reaches the player, not just the operator. Under Vermont statute, a person who wins or loses money by betting faces a fine of between 10 and 200 dollars. That means a private home poker game is technically illegal for everyone at the table. In practice nobody is prosecuting living-room card games, but there is no carve-out protecting them the way there is in most states.
Because of that, we don’t point Vermont readers to offshore casinos or poker sites. They’re unlicensed, unprotected, and the law here doesn’t only target the operator. For a real casino floor or a live poker room, Vermonters cross into New Hampshire, New York or Connecticut.
The practical reality: In Vermont you can legally bet sports on three apps, play regulated daily fantasy, and buy lottery tickets in a shop. You cannot play online casino games or online poker, there is no casino or card room in the state, and horse betting is banned outright. Vermont law fines the individual bettor, so we don’t suggest an offshore workaround here.
Three betting apps, a lottery ticket, and a drive across the state line for anything else.
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Solid all-rounder — poker + sports + casino with the best card deposit rates
Good — Best US poker site, solid casino, crypto-first
Strong casino library with 500+ games, fast crypto, but no poker room
Ignition’s sister casino — great for slots and blackjack, fast crypto payouts
Good casino, no poker — best for slots and blackjack variety
Ignition family casino — strong table games, fast crypto, slots-focused branding
Solid all-rounder — poker + sports + casino with the best card deposit rates
Good — Best US poker site, solid casino, crypto-first
Best US MTT schedule and rakeback — but ongoing bot/RTA concerns at mid-stakes
ACR’s sister site — same network, same games, rakeback option
Subscription sweepstakes poker from the official WPT — novel legal structure, thin games.
Solid all-rounder — poker + sports + casino with the best card deposit rates
Polished app and strong brand, but thin video poker, no 24/7 support, and state-variable game counts hold it back from the top tier.
Slickest casino app in US regulated gaming on the surface — but Trustpilot sits at 1.2/5 on consistent complaints about slow withdrawals, poor support, and bet-grading disputes.
This is the shortest casino section we’ve written for any state: Vermont has no casinos. No commercial casinos, no racinos, no slot parlours, no card rooms, no tribal casinos. Slot machines and mechanical gambling devices are prohibited outright.
The tribal question is where Vermont is genuinely unusual. The state recognises four Abenaki bands — the Elnu and Nulhegan in 2011, and the Koasek and the Abenaki Nation at Missisquoi in 2012 — but that recognition is state-level only. None is federally recognised, so the federal law that lets tribes open casinos elsewhere never comes into play. And Vermont didn’t leave it to inference: the recognition statute itself says in writing that recognition creates no basis to establish or promote any prohibited gambling activity, and confers no right to conduct gambling activities prohibited by law. The legislature closed the door in the same breath it opened recognition.
Attempts to change any of this keep failing. In 2026 a senator filed a bill to let the state license up to two casinos, and another to permit a handful of poker tournaments a year, taxed at 35% for the Education Fund. Both died in committee without a vote — as did bills to allow online lottery sales. Meanwhile horse racing isn’t merely absent but banned, simulcast included, carrying up to two years’ imprisonment: the stiffest penalty in Vermont’s entire gambling chapter. Green Mountain Park in Pownal ran its last races in 1992. For a casino floor or a poker seat, Vermonters drive to New Hampshire, New York or Connecticut.
The Department of Liquor and Lottery contracts and oversees Vermont's three sportsbooks and registers fantasy operators, with the Attorney General enforcing. Each operator must file an annual responsible-gaming plan and submit to independent review.
The Vermont Lottery is state-run, with profits going to the Education Fund, and the Department maintains a self-exclusion list. A share of sports betting money is directed to problem-gambling services.
No Vermont protection. Offshore casinos, poker rooms and sweepstakes sites are unlicensed here — and unlike most states, Vermont's gambling law penalises the individual bettor, not just the operator. No fund segregation, no recourse.
Our guidance: Vermont’s sports betting and daily fantasy are genuinely well regulated — operators file responsible-gaming plans with both the Department of Liquor and Lottery and the Department of Mental Health, and there’s a state self-exclusion list. But there is no legal online casino or poker here, and Vermont law fines the individual bettor, so we don’t suggest offshore sites. Help resources are below.
Vermont runs a state problem-gambling program funded through the Department of Mental Health, with support from the Department of Liquor and Lottery. If gambling stops being fun — or you're chasing losses — free, confidential help is available 24/7.
Primary sources cited throughout this guide.
