Despite pending lawsuit, R.I. touts imminent launch of sports betting app

Rhode Island and its gambling partners are trying to squash a Republican-backed constitutional challenge to legal sports betting while hitting the airwaves to build excitement for the launch of mobile wagering.

Lawyers representing the state Lottery and casino company Twin River argue in recent Superior Court filings that the case should be dismissed because the plaintiff, former Providence GOP mayoral candidate Daniel Harrop, isn't hurt by sports betting and therefore lacks standing to sue.

They also question why, with sports betting having launched last Thanksgiving, Harrop, former GOP Chairman Brandon Bell and attorney Joseph Larisa Jr. waited until May to bring the suit, which seeks a voter referendum on sports betting.

"Can an individual who has waited over year since legislation commencing sports wagering passed, asserts no particularized injury-in-fact (as distinguished from every other Rhode Island voter), and does not reside in either town where sports wagering is hosted have standing to challenge what he describes as constitutional claims on behalf of all Rhode Island voters," a memo supporting the state Lottery's motion to dismiss the case says.

"This question must be answered in the negative."

Portsmouth resident Harrop, the memo argues, has never claimed strong feelings about sports betting, or even that he voted on the 2012 and 2016 ballot questions the state has argued legalized virtually all forms of gambling.

Twin River made a similar argument in a separate motion to dismiss filed Aug. 5.

The Rhode Island Constitution requires voter approval for the state to expand the types and locations of gambling. The GOP-backed suit argues that when voters approved table games in 2012 and 2016, they couldn't have known they were approving sports betting. Sports betting legalization was only allowed by the U.S. Supreme Court last year.

Larisa and Bell have said Harrop is bankrolling the suit, as well as serving as plaintiff, and the purpose is not to necessarily kill sports betting, but to preserve the public's right to vote on it.

The plaintiffs are set to file their response to the motions to dismiss Thursday, but Larisa told the Journal on Wednesday that he is "extremely confident" the case will go forward and be decided on the merits.

On the claim that Harrop waited too long to file the suit, he noted that mobile betting has yet to launch and that constitutional issues are not "time-barred," offering civil rights, Second Amendment and gay marriage cases as examples.

In another development, sports betting vendor IGT, plus the towns of Lincoln and Tiverton that host Twin River's sports betting parlors, have been added as defendants in the case.

IGT and the two towns get a cut of sports betting revenue and presiding Judge Brian Stern ordered them included so they can weigh in.

So far neither town has taken a position on the case, according to their respective attorneys, but still might after hearing the arguments.

A conference in the case is scheduled for Aug. 28.

Meanwhile, after in-person sports betting failed to meet the state's financial expectations in its first year, the Lottery is counting on mobile sports betting as a big money-maker and this week began advertising its impending launch on radio and television.

"Sports fans, have you heard? You will soon be able to bet on sports from anywhere in Rhode Island!" a narrator says, according to a script provided by the Lottery. "Mobile sports betting is headed to R.I. this summer."

The state has spent $10,000 on the ads so far, Department of Revenue spokeswoman Jade Borgeson, chief of staff for the Department of Revenue, said in an email.

Since lawmakers approved mobile sports betting in the spring, the Lottery has hoped to have it up and running for the first game of the National Football League regular season, which is Thursday, Sept. 5. IGT delivered the app to a third-party tester July 31.

Borgeson said Wednesday the launch is still expected to be before the first football game, with the exact date depending on final testing.

The state budget expects $22.7 million in sports betting revenue by the end of next June.