Rhode Island adds legal online casino gambling

The only evidence that “Little Rhody” added legal online casino gambling on Tuesday showed up on the Rhode Island General Assembly site today. Perhaps because the Ocean State’s online gambling “marketplace” will be a monopoly, there was no fanfare.

None of McKee’s tweets or press releases touted the bill becoming law. Most of the press releases, tweets, and official acts related to him legalizing Juneteenth as a state holiday.

By contrast, North Carolina’s governor held a signing ceremony on June 14 for that state’s new sports betting law.

Meanwhile, HB6348/SB948 names Bally’s Corporation and London-based International Game Technology (IGT) as the providers of the new online casino gambling site. Both are the backend of Sportsbook Rhode Island, which is the Rhode Island Lottery’s sports betting product.

The State Lottery Division of the Department of Revenue will serve as the online casino gambling site’s regulator.

Rhode Island joins these states that have been offering iGaming for years:

• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Michigan
• Nevada (online poker only)
• New Jersey
• Pennsylvania
• West Virginia

Bally’s Will Pay a High Tax Rate

The new online casino law specifies a 61% tax rate on slots and 15.5% on table games. That’s one of the highest tax rates on slots in the country.

Delaware’s 62.5% tax rate on online casino and poker has Rhode Island beat, though.

Pennsylvania’s tax rate on slots, 54%, is unusual in that the Keystone State’s online gambling marketplace is far from a monopoly.

Similarly, New York sportsbooks paying a 51% tax rate is notable. At the moment, Ohio’s tax rate is 10%. Most legal sports betting states fall somewhere in between.

Nonetheless, the Rhode Island Department of Revenue (RIDOR) will need to recalculate the estimated gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the new law. RIDOR had provided calculations before lawmakers changed the online casino bill. The department’s study provided totals based on a 51% tax rate on slots and 18% on table games. RIDOR concluded online casino gambling GGR would be $69.3 million during the site’s first year.

The Bigger Legal Online Casino Gambling Picture

If there’s a discussion about legal online casino gambling, Howard Glaser is likely to be there. The global head of government affairs and legislative counsel at Light and Wonder (LNW) weighed in on Rhode Island five days ago.

On June 16, Glaser posted on LinkedIn: ”Rhode Island is on the verge of becoming the 7th state to adopt online casino gaming. RI would be among the smallest states to adopt iGaming – the state itself estimates a first year market of $70M. By contrast, Michigan/NJ/PA are generating over $100M a month – each. And the RI model is a single operator state, granting an effective monopoly to Bally’s.”