DFS moves forward in Vermont

The Vermont state Senate approved the regulation of daily fantasy sports Friday, voting 19 vs. 6 in approval of SB 223 and forwarding the measure to the state House.

The vote exercises the state’s prerogative to make its own decisions on fantasy sports, despite the genre’s federal exemption from the provisions of the federal Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement and other Acts.

The legislative process in Vermont makes the state the twenty-first to consider some form of intrastate DFS legislation.

Sen. Kevin Mullin told local reporters that SB 223 is an attempt to update Vermont’s 18th-century laws for the 21st century.

“It puts Vermonters in a very bad situation when the attorney general rules, based on a 1797 statute, that it’s a crime, and then says in the next breath he would not prosecute any of the tens of thousands of Vermonters who do it,” Mullin said.

“Clearly, if we’re going to have laws, we should enforce them, and if we’re not going to enforce them, they shouldn’t be laws.”

The Senate bill clarifies that DFS is a game of skill and legal under state law and has provisions for consumer protection and the elimination of “insider” action by DFS employees.

“Based on the testimony we heard, we believe it should be legal under certain conditions that protect the players, that protect them from being unfairly beaten in this game of skill by people who have insider information,” Mullin said.

Earlier, DFS lobbyists reportedly said that operators were prepared to allocate some of their profits to projects that minimise and treat problem gambling.

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