Bill to expand sports betting in Rhode Island clears Senate
Senate Bill 748 would open the Rhode Island sports betting market to competition.
US.- A proposal to allow more licences for sports betting in Rhode Island is moving forward. The Senate voted 30-2 in favour of an amended version of majority leader Frank Ciccone’s Senate Bill 748, which now moves to the House.
Rhode Island currently has one sole sports betting brand: Sportsbook Rhode Island run by International Game Technology (IGT) under a contract with the Rhode Island Lottery. Bill 748 would open the market to competition by allowing up to five online sports betting licences to be granted through a competitive bidding process.
The original version of the bill proposed a minimum of five online sportsbook licences. The amended version approved by the Senate reduces the minimum to three and sets five as a maximum a maximum of five.
IGT’s current contract with the state lottery runs until November 2026, but the bill would bring this forward to January 31.
Proponents say the change would create a more healthy sports betting market and could raise more revenue for the state, and major US operators like DraftKings are pushing for the bill to go through, saying that it would encourage innovation and benefit consumers.
However, IGT and the Rhode Island Lottery have pointed out that Rhode Island has the highest sports betting tax rate in the US at 51 per cent. In testimony submitted ahead of the Senate vote both IGT IGT senior vice president Joe Bertolone and lottery director Mark Furcolo argued that the current arrangement generates more tax revenue from sports betting than some bigger states with competitive markets.
