Rhode Island’s sports betting market saw handle and revenue growth in August.
According to the latest figures from the Rhode Island Lottery, bettors in the state of Rhode Island wagered $23.1m on sporting events in August up from the $6.7m wagered in July.
August’s handle was also up 117.9% from the $10.1m wagered this time last year.
Sportsbooks in the state generated $1.4m in revenue representing a significant increase on the $351,425 generated the month prior. This also represented a 64.4% year-on-year increase in revenue up from the $851,788 generated this time last year.
Bettors in the state managed to win a total of $21.7m from the state’s sports betting market.
Land-based sports betting was the primary source of revenue for the state’s sports betting industry in August, generating $932,790 from $12.7m in bets. In comparison, mobile betting revenue hit $490,601 after Rhode Islanders wagered $10.4m via the state’s mobile app.
The state’s land-based sportsbooks partially reopened on 8 June after the coronavirus shutdown. The venues are operational at the time of writing but have several restrictions in place.
Breaking down the figures
Looking closer at the individual figures, the sportsbook at the Twin River casino reported strong figures after generating $638,143 in revenue from $7.3m in bets.
The sportsbook at the Tiverton Casino followed close behind after processing $5.4m in bets and holding onto $293,647 in revenue.
For the financial year to date, which runs from 1 July to 30 June in Rhode Island, sports betting revenue stands at $1.8m, up from the $1.7m at this point last year.
Remote registration sees accounts surge
Sports betting in Rhode Island was initially restricted to two land-based casinos, which was detrimental to the market and although the legislature approved mobile sports betting in Rhode Island, the in-person registration requirement did little to help.
In August 2019, the Twin River branded mobile sports betting app went live in the state but in order to create an account, bettors were required to visit one of the state’s two casino sportsbooks to complete their account activation.
This was corrected in July this year when Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo signed an amendment into law that would allow potential sports bettors to complete their online account registration remotely without having to visit one of the state’s casinos. Remote registration went live in the state on 28 July.
According to the state lottery, the day before remote registration went live, a total of 10,583 accounts had been fully activated out of the 24,919 that began the registration process. When compared to figures from 22 September, after the implementation of remote registration Rhode Island now has 25,327 fully activated sports betting accounts of 28,923 registrations.
This means that many more potential sports bettors are completing the account registration process in Rhode Island now that remote registration is possible.
At the time of writing, Nevada is the only state that has a permanent in-person registration requirement for online sports betting.
