Rhode Island’s path to legalizing sports betting in time to reap the rewards of wagering during the Thanksgiving holiday’s NFL and college games now look strewn with giant sized potholes, although it still could happen at one of the state’s two casinos.
Proponents of sportsbook in the state had at one time even thought they might get it on the books before the World Series. They anticipated $23.5 million in state revenue by the end of this fiscal year in June.
Last week Gerry Aubin, director of the Rhode Island Lottery told officials of the State Budget Office that Twin River’s Casino could offer sports wagering “around Thanksgiving.” The other casino, in Tiverton, won’t be able to offer sports betting until December, he said.
Now the plan is to offer sports betting on the third floor of Twin River while a larger betting parlor is constructed on the second floor. A home for sports betting is still under construction at Tiverton, which is near the Massachusetts state line.
At first bets will have to be made in person, but eventually self-serve kiosks will open and next summer mobile phone apps will be introduced that will allow wagering on the casino property. The honesty of this process will be guaranteed by geo-fencing technology.
These various delays would seem to guarantee that the original estimates of tax revenues are probably over optimistic. Aubin told officials that the Lottery never produced those estimates and wouldn’t say whether they are possible at this point. The $23.5 million estimate was actually made by the Budget Office, which now says that it will issue a new estimate around November 9.
The Budget Office uses figures from a study done for the American Gaming Association by Oxford Economics. It has estimated that Rhode Island betters could wager as high as $813.6 million annually, with profits of $44.7 million, which would be taxed at 61 percent.
That 61 percent is already out of date since in August the Lottery signed an agreement with IGT to run sports betting and pay the state 51 percent.
