The Department of Liquor and Lottery presented a legislative proposal to authorize ‘‘digital lottery’’ purchases by phone or internet, telling the Government Operations & Military Affairs committee that account‑based online sales would modernize retail distribution and potentially increase transfers to the education fund.

Commissioner Wendy Knight of the Department of Liquor and Lottery said the proposal would allow Vermont players to set up accounts and buy lottery tickets from phones or websites rather than only at retail clerks or self‑service vending machines. Knight said the department would structure digital sales as an omnichannel system that complements, not replaces, brick‑and‑mortar retailers and would create a pro‑rata revenue‑share to compensate existing lottery agents for digital transactions.

Knights explained safeguards built into the plan: an age‑verification system for the legal minimum (18+ for lottery), a know‑your‑customer framework, voluntary self‑exclusion and algorithmic monitoring to detect problematic behavior, and the ability to geofence play to Vermont so out‑of‑state accounts cannot participate. She said the digital platform would provide the department with data on purchasing patterns and limits—information absent from cash retail sales today.

Committee members pressed operational details. Representative Marcotte, identified in the discussion as a lottery agent, asked whether the department’s requested staffing for implementation is sufficient; Knight said the position is a governor’s budget request not yet approved and that the department can implement the program without the position if necessary but prefers the requested staffing. Members also asked how the vendor would be chosen; Knight said the department would run a competitive RFP and select a single vendor for the platform, consistent with how other lottery systems are procured.

Knight framed the modernization as a modest revenue opportunity that supports education funding: Vermont transferred $30 million from lottery profits to the education fund in FY25 and plans roughly $32 million for FY26, though she cautioned transfers fluctuate with sales and jackpot cycles. She said other states that adopted digital lottery (for example, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire) saw overall sales growth rather than cannibalization of retail sales.

The department did not introduce a final bill text during the briefing. Knight offered to follow up with committee members on outstanding questions about advertising oversight and exact retailer commission formulas. The committee recessed to resume other agenda items later in the session.