Sports betting numbers up, but below expectations
Rhode Island's legal sports betting business had its best month yet in March, but still fell short of the profits the state anticipated when it legalized athletic wagering last year.
Sports Book Rhode Island made $1,548,230 in March, a high-volume month that includes the NCAA basketball tournament, according to figures from the Rhode Island Lottery released Monday. It was a significant improvement from February, when the state-sponsored Twin River Casino-based operation lost nearly $900,000 to gamblers in large part due to bets on the New England Patriots Super Bowl win.
The state receives a little more than half of all sports betting revenue, which would put its March take at around $775,000.
Since sports betting launched last November, the operation has made a total of $1.8 million so far (state's share around $925,000) with three months left in the fiscal year.
Although that's a step in the right direction, the budget lawmakers passed last summer assumed $23.5 million in sports betting revenue, or nearly $2 million per month.
Gov. Gina Raimondo's budget plan for next year, released in January, revised down its revenue expectations for next year to $11.5 million. But even that would require profits of more than $900,000 per month.
Last month Raimondo signed a bill clearing the way for online sports bets to be made from anywhere in the state through an app or online site.
Asked earlier this month whether Rhode Island had been misled by anyone when it came up with its $23.5-million first-year sports betting estimate, Raimondo said she didn't think so.
"I think in the long run, the numbers are going to be what we thought, but we got a slower start," she told The Journal in a State House interview. "Maybe we should have known it was was going to be slower and forecasted accordingly. I also think the world is changing and actually the money is going to be on the [mobile] phone."
The Lottery plans to launch online sports betting by the start of next fall's football season but has not finalized further details about who will develop it and under what terms.
Sports betting profits rose in March along with the volume of bets, with $23.6 million wagered and $22 million paid out, according to Lottery figures. In February, bettors placed $20.7 million in bets. The sports betting facilities at Twin River have grown since early winter with self-service betting kiosks supplementing the regular betting windows.
The current Rhode Island sports betting business splits profits three ways, with the state getting 51 percent of revenue, sports book operators IGT and William Hill getting 31 percent and casino host Twin River 16 percent.
Twin River Worldwide Holdings, which owns Rhode Island's two casinos with sports betting, made $71 million in profit last year, a nearly 60 percent increase from 2016, according to WPRI Monday.