Rhode Island will continue with just one sportsbook.
Senate Bill 748 intended to open the sports betting market to between two and five legal operators after a report from Spectrum Gaming Group encouraged officials to expand the market.
However, the bill did not make it out of the House Committee on Finance after it was overwhelmingly approved by the Senate in June.
Rhode Island’s deal with IGT, which powers Sportsbook Rhode Island, will expire in November 2026.
Failing to progress
Senate Majority Leader Frank Ciccone (D-7) introduced the Senate bill that would’ve ended Rhode Island’s sports betting monopoly.
The Ocean State has had only one operator since it legalized sports betting in 2018 shortly after a federal court decision legalized it. Ciccone’s bill would have opened the door to platforms such as FanDuel, DraftKings, Fanatics, and others.
House Speaker J. Joseph Shekarchi said IGT’s agreement made the bill unnecessary since it runs through 2026. However, he promised to review the proposal after the Senate’s vote.
SB748 isn’t entirely dead, but its failure to progress out of the House committee means the state likely won’t find a solution until IGT’s contract runs out next year.
The Rhode Island legislative session ended on June 30 after it convened in early February. Assuming the same timeline next year, that will give officials five months to renegotiate with IGT, find a replacement provider, or expand the state market.
Although a sports betting monopoly is rare, it is not unique. All sports betting in Florida is through Hard Rock Bet, a product of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Oregon and New Hampshire allow online bets only through DraftKings, Delaware bettors are restricted to BetRivers, and Montana users are limited to Intralot.
Like Rhode Island, Washington D.C. had just one sports betting operator for years until it expanded the number of sportsbooks last year.
Changes on the horizon?
Had Ciccone’s bill been approved, no more than five but at least two sports betting operators would’ve been licensed to accept wagers in Rhode Island. Also, anyone found guilty of letting someone younger than 21 wager at the Bally’s-managed online casino would’ve been subject to a one-year prison term and $1,000 fine under the legislation.
That’s an important distinction since Rhode Island’s legal gambling age is 18 at retail casinos but 21 online.
After legalizing sports betting in 2018, Rhode Island launched Sportsbook Rhode Island in 2019. Bettors have combined to wager $2.6 billion since then, leading to $222.1 million in sports betting revenue and $113.3 million in state taxes.
The state’s steep 51% tax rate on sportsbook revenue is tied with New York and New Hampshire for the highest in the country. That would classify it as what DraftKings calls a “high-tax” state, a state with a tax penalty above 20%.
Nearby New Jersey is waiting on Gov. Phil Murphy (D) to sign into law a bill that would raise its DFS, iGaming, and sports betting tax rate to 19.75%, just under DraftKings' designation.
DraftKings notably has a presence in New Jersey, which is one of the largest sports betting jurisdictions in the country.