Rhode Island now a signature away from legal sports betting

Rhode Island is but a governor’s signature away from becoming the seventh US state to have legal sports betting laws on its books.

On Wednesday, the Rhode Island senate approved the state’s fiscal 2019 budget, and Gov. Gina Raimondo said she intends to sign her approval by Friday. The $9.6b budget includes $23.5m that the state expects to earn as its share of the first year of legal sports wagering.

Rhode Island’s plan is to allow the state’s two brick-and-mortar Twin River casinos to offer sports betting. The betting technology will be provided by IGT, which already powers the state lottery and was the sole bidder for the tech contract in May.

IGT’s share of the betting revenue is projected to be $14.75m, while the casinos will take home $7.8m. The estimates are based on a somewhat optimistic projection that the casinos will handle around $910m worth of wagers from a population of just over 1m souls and with no web or mobile wagering in the state’s current betting language.