The state originally planned to roll out sports betting by Oct. 1

Rhode Island postpones legalized sports wagering until November

Rhode Island joins New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia in legalizing the activity and preparing to offer wagers.
2018-08-28
Reading time 1:41 min
In order to allow an independent consultant to fully vet the state-owned sports book, Rhode Island will put off the debut of sports betting until mid-November.

Rhode Island originally planned to roll out sports betting by Oct. 1, but will delay implementation until mid-November so that the new program can be fully vetted, Bloomberg reports.

The Rhode Island Department of Revenue announced Aug. 24 that it had signed a five-year contract with International Game Technology (IGT), and its commercial partner, William Hill, to operate a legal sports book in the Ocean State. The contract with IGT also has options for two additional five-year terms. The Rhode Island Lottery will oversee legalized sports betting.

The Lottery has contracted with Gaming Laboratories International (GLI), an international gaming IT consultant, "to perform third-party, independent testing before the system is implemented."

"GLI will issue a letter of certification that the system developed by IGT meets all necessary requirements before go-live," according to a statement issued by the Rhode Island Department of Revenue.

IGT was chosen as the state’s sports betting vendor in April, after it submitted the only response to the state lottery’s sports betting Request for Proposals (RFP). Although the RFP called for bidders to include online betting options, the state will initially only allow sports betting at the Twin River Gaming Facility in Lincoln and at another casino planned for Tiverton.

IGT is already the gaming system provider for the Lottery. Previously known as GTECH, IGT signed a 20-year contract in 2003 for the rights to be the exclusive provider of information technology hardware, software, and related services for all Rhode Island Lottery games, according to a lottery spokesman.

Rhode Island expects to collect approximately $23.5 million in revenue from sports betting in fiscal year 2019, which began July 1. A spokesman for the Rhode Island Department of Revenue said the revenue figure may be adjusted in November. According to the state’s fiscal year 2019 budget (H. 7200 Aaa), which legalized sports betting, the state will take 51 percent of the revenue generated by sports betting, IGT will get 32 percent, and the casinos will keep 17 percent.

Delaware, New Jersey, and Mississippi have launched legalized sports betting since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Murphy v. NCAA, which struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act that barred the activity in most places. Nevada was grandfathered into the act, giving the state decades of regulatory experience over the majority of the country.

Rhode Island joins New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia in legalizing the activity and preparing to offer wagers.

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