Rhode Island, following the lead set by New Jersey, has become the first New England state to accept wagers on sport.
This took place at the Twin River Casino in Lincoln on Monday, November 26, when Rhode Island legislative leaders Dominick Ruggerio and Nicholas Mattiello placed ceremonial first bets with John Taylor, chairman of Twin River Worldwide Holdings.
Twin Rivers plans to add sports betting to its Tiverton Casino sometime in December but it is not expected to open an online sportsbook until early next year.
In June, New Jersey became the first of the 46 States where sports betting had been illegal for more than two decades to officially accept a bet following a long court battle that eventually saw the Supreme Court strike out the ‘Professional and Amateur Sport Protection Act’ (PASPA ) on the grounds that it was “unconstitutional”.
Since then eight Sportsbooks, mostly backed or partnered by international giants in this field have opened in New Jersey with greater success than was anticipated.
Rhode Island’s sports betting launch, meanwhile, has come much later than expected – and the state’s authorities are disappointed that it has missed more than half the NFL football season and they accordingly have had to cut their estimated tax revenue from it for the year from $23, 5 million to $12 million.
October 1 was the original target date for its launch, but it was delayed by negotiations involving themselves, Twin River Casino, British sportsbook juggernaut William Hill, who are the vendors, and sportsbook software specialists IGT.
The agreement reached on sports betting in Rhode Island will see the state receive 51 percent of all revenue from betting (the highest sports wagering tax rate to date of any state where this form of gambling is legal) while the vendor will earn 32 percent, and the casinos the remaining 17 percent.
Speaking about the launch date delay last week, Ruggerio, the Rhode Island Senate President said “I am frustrated with the delay in the implementation of sports gaming. Sports gaming will provide the state with revenue that offsets reliance on taxes to support essential state services, such as education and fixing roads and bridges.”