RI's Sports Betting Launches Mobile App
GoLocalProv News Team
RI's Sports Betting Launches Mobile App
The application allows sports bettors to create their accounts and to place bets through mobile devices, but they are forced to go to a Twin River casino to activate the app.
“As with the sportsbook launch last year, the partners will phase in the mobile application service – with full mobile service within Twin River Casino beginning Wednesday afternoon and full service within Tiverton Casino Hotel starting shortly thereafter. The phased launch will allow for the Sportsbook technology team to monitor and refine system performance prior to the start of an advertising campaign promoting the mobile service sought by sports fans,” writes the Rhode Island Department of Revenue in their press release.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTFrom then on, bettors will be able to place wagers from anywhere in the state.
Latest on Sports Betting in RI
As GoLocalProv reported in July, total revenue from sports betting in the fiscal year 2019 was just $6,867,769.
This came after the program was promised to deliver $23.5 million to the state coffers.
In November, the state had even downgraded its expected take, saying that it would realize $11 million
Flaws Unveiled
The failure raises more questions about Twin River’s rollout and marketing of the program.
In April, GoLocal unveiled that the estimates used for the program were deeply flawed. As GoLocal wrote:
RI’s new sports betting program is underperforming by 90% and top experts with the leading gaming group say Rhode Island’s projections were fundamentally flawed from the onset. Now, the impact is leaving a massive hole in both this and next year's budget -- as much as $40 million combined.
According to top staff at the American Gaming Association (AGA), the projections used by Governor Gina Raimondo’s administration were fundamentally flawed and that Rhode Island misunderstood and used incorrect data from a study.
The AGA says, “We prove the value of the gaming industry through compelling research that supports best-in-class communications tools to inform policymakers and regulators. In addition, we elevate responsible gaming as a signature industry priority."
"Our research presented several possible combinations of tax rates and sports betting availability. Under the scenario closest to what Rhode Island implemented, we estimated that Rhode Island would generate $6.4 million in sports betting gaming tax revenue, $17.1 million less than the state projected," said AGA's Caroline Ponseti, the director, media relations in a statement to GoLocal in April.
"Further, our estimate is based on a fully stabilized market (not the first four months of operation), a tax rate of 15% (Rhode Island’s is about 50%) and a legal framework that does not include any 'unusual restrictions' (like Rhode Island’s prohibition on in-state college sports bets). All of these factors point to expected 2019 sports betting tax revenue of well below even our modest and reasonable projections," added Ponseti.
In a conference call with Sara Slane, senior vice president of public affairs of the AGA, and top researcher for the group David Foreman, the two told GoLocal that the numbers used by the state were based on a fully mature market and not a startup initiative.
“A mature market is 3 to 5 years,” said Foreman.
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