Rhode Island Sportsbetting Moves Closer to Reality

The state of Rhode Island has gotten closer to legalizing sports gambling within their borders, as lawmakers approved of the legalization and regulation of the activity.

State lawmakers in the House voted 66-7 in favor last week, and the Senate voted in favor 34-2 this week, moving the matter to Governor Gina Raimondo, who has the option of signing the bill into law. The bill had to be passed by July 1st in order to meet legislative cutoffs. It's expected that the bill will become law and will see casinos able to offer wagers on different sporting events.

The Rhode Island lottery will take charge of the betting, operating wagers from Twin River Casinos in Lincoln and Tiverton. Revenues raised from sportsbetting will be allocated in the following amounts: The state getting 51%, the vendor getting 32%, the casino getting 17%. Rhode Island has designated IGT as the vendor to supply the sportsbetting platform.

No timetable for integration has been given, but it's likely that casinos will be able to quickly begin offering the service. Delaware and New Jersey both legalized sportsbetting in the past month and are both offering wagers to punters already.

We'll be keeping up on this story and updating readers as we learn more.