Rhode Island’s sports betting industry got off to a slow start in 2019.
According to figures from the Rhode Island Lottery, sports betting handle for the first half of the 2020 fiscal year reached $132m in the state of Rhode Island.
Between July and December 2019, bettors won back more than $120m leaving the sportsbooks with just $12m in betting revenue.
For the month of December, Rhode Island’s sportsbooks generated $2.6m in revenue from $31.7m in bets.
Breaking down the figures
Looking closer at the figures, the sportsbook at Twin River Lincoln generated $7.9m in revenue from $85.8m in sports bets, making it the most successful sportsbook in the first half of the financial year. Alternatively, the sportsbook at Twin River Tiverton processed $20m in wagers and held onto just $2m in betting revenue.
Online betting, which arrived in Rhode Island in August 2019, accounted for $26.3m of the state’s total betting handle, with sportsbooks holding onto $2.9m.
In December, the sportsbook at Twin River Lincoln generated $1.6m in revenue from $18.8m in bets, while the Tiverton venue generated $351,433 in revenue from $4.1m in sports wagers. A total of $8.8m was wagered online in December with the state’s online operator generating $613,522 in revenue.
Sports betting in Rhode Island
Sports betting in Rhode Island was initially restricted to two land-based casinos, which was detrimental to the market. However, the state of Rhode Island saw the soft launch of the Twin River branded mobile sports betting app in August 2019.
Now that the state has a mobile betting option, residents will be able to place bets using the mobile app, rather than travel across the state to visit one of the two land-based sportsbooks. However, bettors that wish to wager on the mobile app must first visit a casino sportsbook to activate their mobile sports betting account. Once the account has been set up, they will be able to wager remotely from anywhere within the state.
