Rhode Island Sports Betting Launches Next Monday

After our previous announcement that Rhode Island is ripe for the launch of a sports betting market, the final confirmation and the (almost) exact date has arrived!

This state’s regulated sports betting market will launch Monday (from November 26th onwards) and the first gambling property to accept legal bets will be the Lincoln, Rhode Island-based facility, Twin River Casino.

Esteemed Bettors

On Monday, the first bet will be placed by Speaker of the House, Nicholas Mattiello, Senate President, Dominic Ruggerio, and executive chairman of Twin River Worldwide Holdings.

The original plan was to go live with sports betting on October 1st – the significant delay of almost two months was due to talks with IGT and William Hill, who penned an agreement with Rhode Island Lottery in August, taking longer than expected.

Dominic Ruggerio comments on the grand event: “Sports gaming provides the state with revenue that offsets reliance on taxes to essential state services, such as education and fixing roads and bridges.”

How it Came to Be

Sports betting in RI was made legal in June – which was one of the quickest reactions to the situation and bevvy of opportunities created by the historic repeal of PASPA that put legalization of this gambling branch on discussion tables again.

There will be a 51% gross revenue tax for all the sports betting happening in this state – casino will get 17% of that while the remaining 32% goes to the operator. Officials estimates that, through to June 30th 2019, sports betting will contribute with revenue of about $32.5 million to state budget.

This figure was downplayed somewhat due to late launch – it now stands at approximately $12 million.

At Twin and Tiverton Casino, IGT and William Hill will be supplying sportsbooks – these are the only two licensed venues in Rhode Island. Tiverton Casino’s sportsbook will be launched next month.

Surrounding Competition

State authorities will be happy they have an upper hand in sports betting and that they have launched it before most of other neighboring states.

Massachusetts is still nowhere near liberalizing the sports betting market within their borders, although they were thought to be first in line even before the Supreme Court officially overturned the act that prevented it.

Connecticut has approved the construction of yet another casino on its soil, but that was back in March – there has been no noise since, regarding any steps towards sports betting regulation.

Source:

“Rhode Island to launch sports betting next week”, igamingbusiness.com, November 22, 2018.