Legal sports betting in Rhode Island is set to launch on Monday 26 November at the Twin River Casino in Lincoln.
This makes Rhode Island the Eighth state were bettors can place legal wagers on sporting events and the first New England state to legalize the activity.
On Monday an opening ceremony will be held at 3pm where House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, Senate President Dominic Ruggerio and Twin River Worldwide Holdings Executive Chairman, John Taylor, will place the first bets at the venue.
The ceremony will be held at the casino’s Simulcast area, the phase 1 sports betting area at the casino.
Twin River expects to launch sports betting at its Tiverton venue in December.
Rhode Island initially legalized sports betting legislation in June but the launch was delayed due to negotiations with sportsbook technology partners William Hill and International Game Technology (IGT) taking longer than expected.
After the delay, officials from Twin River announced that sports betting services would launch around Thanksgiving.
With the later than expected launch of the sportsbook, it appears that the state will have missed out on the bets that were placed at the start of the NFL season.
On the taxation front, Rhode Island casinos will only hold onto 17% of revenue while IGT will receive 32% and Rhode Island will receive 51% of sports betting revenue in the form of taxation and licensing costs.
The state’s Department of Revenue expects sports betting to generate revenues of $23.5m for the current financial year which will end on 30 June 2019.
This news comes just a week after the first sports betting venue in Pennsylvania opened its doors for business.
