States move to make sports betting illegal again

[Captain Tenneal]

https://www.covers.com/industry/maryland-vermont-repeal-sports-betting-illegal-again-february-2025


The pushback for legalized sports betting in the U.S. arguably yet somewhat fittingly reached its peak in Vermont, the Green Mountain State.

Earlier this month, three members of Vermont's House of Representatives introduced a bill, H.133, that proposes to repeal the laws for the state lottery and sports wagering.

This would “ensure that any person offering a lottery or sports wagering is subject to the criminal provisions” of Vermont’s gambling and lottery laws, the bill says.

For example, H.133 would make it so anyone caught bookmaking – which at this point in Vermont would be DraftKings, Fanatics, and FanDuel – could be fined up to $250 or imprisoned for as long as six months, or both, for their first offense. Subsequent offenses could be met with fines of up to $2,000 and jail time of as much as five years.

Vermont only launched legal sports betting in January 2024. A year later, there’s a bill in the state legislature proposing the nuclear option: make sports betting illegal again.

“State-sanctioned gaming functions as a camouflaged form of regressive taxation,” Rep. Troy Headrick, one of H.133’s sponsors, said in a statement to Covers (which he’d first given to PlayUSA, the outlet that first reported on the bill). “The house always wins, and in this case, the state is the house – exploiting those who can least afford it under the guise of entertainment.”

H.133 was read for the first time on Feb. 4 and referred to the House's Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs for further consideration. It has yet to budge from there, and there is no guarantee it goes any further.

Who's coming with me?
But the gauntlet was thrown down by the Vermont trio. Forget about hiking tax rates, restricting advertising, or imposing some other condition on the industry: why not just make it illegal again? If Vermont is successful, it would be the first state to illegalize since the U.S. Supreme Court paved the way for broader legalization of sports betting in 2018.

Any questions about whether Vermont lawmakers were alone in thinking about this sort of thing were quickly answered by Senate Bill 1033, which received its first reading last week in Maryland.

Introduced by Democratic Sen. Joanne Benson, S.B. 1033's purpose is "repealing online sports wagering," such as by removing references in state law to mobile sports betting.

The proposed repeal would take effect in Maryland on Jan. 1, 2026. It would allow in-person sports betting to continue at casinos and other brick-and-mortar facilities.

So now we have lawmakers in two states, at least, proposing to turn the clock back and make it illegal again to offer online sports betting. It usually takes three of something for a trend. But if you include the ongoing issues in passing sports betting-related legislation in states such as Minnesota and Mississippi, it’s trendy enough.

Lawmakers proposing to legalize sports betting don't even love it.

"If Minnesota is going to legalize this predatory industry, we must do so with safeguards that will minimize the harm," Minnesota Sen. John Marty said in a statement earlier this month.


Thoughts? So we have at least two states pushing to make sports betting illegal again after the burst of states legalizing it after the federal decision in 2018. Do you think this trend will continue? Perhaps they noticed adverse effects

 

[Yorick the Wiser]

No offense to folks who enjoy this, but I've never engaged in it and won't any time soon.

Money drain pure and simple.

Hopefully other states take a long, hard look at the industry and consider their stance.

 

[Pliny Pete]

LoL, only thing more powerful than a US senator is an NFL team owner, they bout to find that out the hard way

 

[BangBang]

Lol it will just drive it underground. No way people are stopping betting. It's human nature, whether we put money on the line or not.

 

[Croaker]

Lol it will just drive it underground. No way people are stopping betting. It's human nature, whether we put money on the line or not.

This is such a short sighted and unintelligent/ill-informed take on the issue its pretty funny

It's way more than predatory practices against citizens, the money generated doesn't even go back to the state that legalizes it. The entire industry is corrupt and so are the patrons.

 

[Madmick]

Lol it will just drive it underground. No way people are stopping betting. It's human nature, whether we put money on the line or not.

Good, it's better underground, it does less harm to society.

 

[BangBang]

Good, it's better underground, it does less harm to society.

Is it not better out in the open and regulated?

 

[BangBang]

This is such a short sighted and unintelligent/ill-informed take on the issue its pretty funny

It's way more than predatory practices against citizens, the money generated doesn't even go back to the state that legalizes it. The entire industry is corrupt and so are the patrons.

Well I guess I'm just uneducated then lol.

 

[Madmick]

Is it not better out in the open and regulated?

No. It does more damage by virtue of volume. This isn't speakeasies (where the estimated total number of bars in Manhattan, for example, under Prohibition, outnumbered those that exist now). It's more like illicit hard drugs. You make it illegal, usage goes down. It's worth the tradeoffs.

 

[Croaker]

Well I guess I'm just uneducated then lol.

Nothing wrong with that either, at least you're mature enough to acknowledge it. I give you way more props for that alone. If we had competent law makers (lol) this entire issue could be resolved without just taking it away and maybe starting clean down the line. As it stands, the accessibility alone has had negative impacts on local economies. People are putting more money into online gambling than buying goods. That raises an entirely other problem with rampant consumerism in the USA.

That's not even including long term investments.

 

[BangBang]

Nothing wrong with that either, at least you're mature enough to acknowledge it. I give you way more props for that alone. If we had competent law makers (lol) this entire issue could be resolved without just taking it away and maybe starting clean down the line. As it stands, the accessibility alone has had negative impacts on local economies. People are putting more money into online gambling than buying goods. That raises an entirely other problem with rampant consumerism in the USA.

That's not even including long term investments.

Thanks man....I'm comfortable with my mental retardation. I am what I am!