Rhode Island may be one of the smaller states to provide legal online sports betting, but this hasn’t stopped it from making some month-on-month improvements where revenue is concerned. Of course, it has felt the impact of the worldwide pandemic, as have many other sports betting markets around the world, but the latest figures suggest that it brought in a total of $163,472 in May this year.
According to those same figures – provided by the Rhode Island Lottery – bettors within The Ocean State wagered a total of $1.5 million on sporting events in the month of May. And while that did represent an 89.7% decrease in a year-on-year situation, it is up from the $27,381 that was generated in April. Of course, with all land-based betting establishments being closed, all betting activity within Rhode Island took place via the state’s mobile betting platform instead.
Rhode Island does have a legal sports betting sector, although this isn’t like that experienced within the UK for example, where various platforms provide sports betting. Many of the bookmakers offering such there can be found at this website, where they’re fully reviewed. Instead, a single mobile sportsbook operates within the small state, providing a variety of wagering opportunities to residents and people within Rhode Island.
Prior to lockdown, the sportsbook that is located within the Twin River Lincoln establishment brought in £1,032 of revenue from bets of $2,130 placed. At the same time, the sportsbook within Tiverton Casino generated just $32 prior to this time.
The Sports Betting Scenario in Rhode Island
When Rhode Island first began accepting sports betting as a legal activity, it was restricted to two of the state’s land-based casinos. However, this was found to be exceptionally detrimental to the market, so in August 2019, it introduced the Twin River-branded mobile sports betting application instead.
Due to the fact that this became a possibility, residents were able to start placing their wagers through this rather than have to visit the two land-based casinos providing such. However, prior to being able to utilize this app for sports betting, a player must visit one of the land-based establishments to setup and activate their account for such. Once this has been completed, a user has the ability to place wagers remotely from anywhere within Rhode Island.
With this being the case, Rhode Island operates as just one of 18 states that provide residents with legal sports betting opportunities. Colorado became the most recent to introduce sports betting opportunities in an online setting, with this becoming active as of May 1, 2020.
So far this year, five states have put forward legislation for legal sports betting, but these have failed in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine and Wyoming. Bills are still being discussed in locations like California, Kansas, South Dakota and Vermont, while no legislation has been brought forward in seven states, such as Idaho and Wisconsin.
However, it is thought that the next states to introduce operational sports betting will be North Carolina, Tennessee, Washington and Washington D.C. Virginia is currently in the process of completing its final steps before completing legislation.
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