Rhode Island sports betting handle drops again in April
Players in Rhode Island wagered $37.5m on sports in April.
US.- Rhode Island’s sports betting handle reached $37.5m in April. The figure marks and eight-month low, down 6.7 per cent from $40.2m in the same month of 2022 and down 9.6 per cent from $41.5m in March 2023.
According to the Rhode Island Lottery, $27.5m was staked online, with the remaining $10m split across the Twin River and Tiverton Casino retail sportsbooks. Twin River’s handle amounted to $5.8m and Tiverton Casino’s $4.2m.
The state reported sports betting revenue of $3m, a 25 per cent increase year-on-year but 25 per cent lower than $4m in March of this year. Some $2.2m in revenue was generated from betting online, while $611,122 was attributed to the retail sportsbook at Twin River and $157,841 to Tiverton Casino.
The Rhode Island lottery reported that players won $34.5m from betting on sports in April. The handle for the ten months to the end of April was $455m, with revenue at $45.2m and player winnings at $409.8m.
See also: Rhode Island Senate passes legislation to allow betting on in-state college teams
Workers push for smoking ban at RI casinos
Rhode Island casino workers met last week in support of a bill that would ban smoking at the venues where they work. About two dozen employees at Bally’s Twin River in Lincoln and Bally’s Tiverton Casino gathered at the State House to plead with lawmakers to repeal the “loophole” that allows smoking at the state’s two casinos despite Rhode Island having a smoke-free workplace law.
Lawmakers, nonsmokers’ rights activists, and the Rhode Island chapter of Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects joined the rally.
The Rhode Island Senate Committee on Finance is to consider S438, which was introduced by lawmakers earlier this year. It met last month to hear H5237, a companion bill that would remove the exemption for casinos from the state’s smokefree workplace law.
