Online Casinos in Vermont

Vermont Fines the Player as Well as the Promoter

Vermont has no commercial casino and licenses no online casino. Its gambling chapter is old and short, and the provision that reaches an ordinary player is not tied to any place: “A person who wins or loses money or other valuable thing by play or hazard at any game, or by betting on such play or hazard, or sharing in a stake wagered by others on such play or hazard, shall be fined not more than $200.00 nor less than $10.00.”

The operator provisions are heavier. Section 2101 covers promotion: “Except as provided in section 2143 of this title, a person who sets up or promotes a lottery for money or other property, or disposes of money or property by a lottery, and a person aiding or concerned in so doing, or who knowingly allows premises owned or occupied by him or her or under his or her control to be used for that purpose, or by persons raffling or using a game of chance for money or property, shall be imprisoned not more than one year or fined not more than $10,000.00, or both, for the first offense and imprisoned not more than three years or fined not more than $10,000.00, or both, for each subsequent offense.” Two older sections cover premises: “A person who plays at cards, dice, tables, or other game for money or other valuable in a common gaming or gambling house that is maintained for lucre and gain, shall be fined not more than $200.00 or imprisoned not more than 60 days, or both.” and “A person who has or keeps on premises owned or occupied by him or her implements or other things used in gambling and permits persons resorting to such premises to use such implements or things for the purpose of gambling shall be imprisoned not more than six months nor less than 10 days or fined not more than $500.00 nor less than $10.00, or both.” No online casino is licensed in Vermont, and this site does not point readers at operators that are not licensed where they are.

Vermont Has a Specific Sweepstakes Provision, and It Is Permissive

This is the part of Vermont law a reader is most likely to be misled about, so it is quoted in full rather than described. Section 2143b provides: “Notwithstanding the provisions of this chapter, a person may organize, execute, or participate in a contest or game of chance, including a sweepstakes, provided that persons who enter the contest or game of chance are not required to venture money or other valuable things.” It adds that “The cost of mailing an entry shall not be considered a venture of money or other valuable things.” and that “This section shall not be construed to prohibit a person from organizing, executing, or participating in a contest that is not a contest of chance.”

That is a provision addressed to prize contests and sweepstakes, and it points towards permission rather than prohibition where no entrant has to pay. It is also precisely the kind of exemption a dual-currency product is designed to sit inside, which is why this page does not treat it as settling anything about sweepstakes casinos. Vermont has published no court decision, attorney general opinion or agency statement that applies § 2143b to an online casino-style product, so no sweepstakes status is recorded for the state. A null here lists no operators and asserts nothing, which is the honest outcome when the law addresses a mechanism but not the product.

The Lottery and Sports Wagering Are Different Markets

Vermont runs a state lottery under Chapter 14 of Title 31 of its statutes, whose first section is headed “651. Powers and duties of Board of Liquor and Lottery”, and it has authorised sports wagering under Chapter 25 of the same title, which defines “Department” as the Department of Liquor and Lottery and provides that “The Department is authorized to operate sports wagering within the State.” The Commissioner contracts with operators “to operate a sportsbook in Vermont through a mobile sports wagering platform”, so the sports product is a phone app. Neither the lottery nor the sports-wagering authorisation is a casino licence, and neither extends to casino games, so the existence of a licensed sportsbook app in Vermont says nothing about whether an online casino may operate there. It may not.

Sweepstakes casinos and real-money casinos are separate products with separate rules, and neither is presented here as a licensed version of the other.