Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello, Senate President Dominic Ruggerio and John Taylor, Jr, executive chairman of the casino's parent company Twin River Worldwide Holdings, will place the first bets at the Lincoln casino on Monday November 26.
Rhode Island legalised sports betting in June, just weeks after the Supreme Court moved to overturn PASPA.
“Sports gaming provides the state with revenue that offsets reliance on taxes to support essential state services, such as education and fixing roads and bridges,” Ruggerio said of upcoming launch.
The state had hoped to go live with a legal service on October 1, but this was delayed due to overunning talks with IGT and William Hill, which signed an agreement with the Rhode Island Lottery in August to manage sports betting services in the state.
IGT and William Hill will supply end-to-end sports betting services at the Twin River Casino and Tiverton Casino, the state’s only licensed video lottery and table game establishments. Twin River plans to launch sports betting at the Tiverton Casino facility next month.
Rhode Island has set a 51% gross revenue tax for regulated sports betting in the state, with the vendor to receive 32% of revenue, and the casino the remaining 17%.
Based on an October 1 launch, the state budget included an estimated US$32.5 million in revenue from sports betting through to June 30 next year. However, due to the late launch, analysts have since suggested Rhode Island will now raise in the region of US$12 million.
Source: GMB / iGamingbusiness.com
