Mobile Rhode Island Sports Betting Launches, Lawsuit Looms

• Rhode Island mobile sports betting is now active.
• Sports bettors need to sign up for their mobile account at the Twin River Casino.
• A lawsuit threatens to shut down Rhode Island sports betting completely.

LINCOLN, R.I. – Mobile sports betting became active on Wednesday at the Twin River Casino in Lincoln.

The Details For Rhode Island Mobile Betting

The main thing to look out for is that bettors in the state must go to a Twin River Casino to sign up. The Rhode Island Sportsbook app is available for download no matter your location. But bettors cannot register their mobile sports betting account without visiting the casino. At the moment, bettors can only register for mobile sports betting at the Twin River Casino in Lincoln. Registration at the Twin River Tiverton will become active within a few days.

Registering at one of the casinos is the main restriction with Rhode Island mobile sports betting. Once that is done, bettors are free to bet on action no matter where they go. But the mobile sports betting app will not work outside of Rhode Island’s state borders.

The Path To Mobile And An Uncertain Future

Sports betting became legal in Rhode Island on June 2018. Retail sportsbooks at the Twin River Casinos then launched on November 2018. Lawmakers then decided that they needed mobile betting to make sports betting successful.

That is when they decided to introduce RI SB 37. The bill was signed and made into law in March 2019. Now mobile sports betting is active and legal a year after the legalization of Rhode Island sports betting.

But a lawsuit threatens to dismantle Rhode Island sports betting completely. A group of former Republican politicians are suing because of how Rhode Island sports betting was legalized. They believe that a voter’s referendum is necessary to legalize sports betting in the state.

But a 2016 referendum helped to outline that authorization did happen. The plantiffs believe that this was not enough to legalize sports betting. But that is not the only reason why the lawsuit is happening.

“It’s the integrity issue. Colleges around the country are really concerned about players who aren’t making any money. Will they be tempted to throw a game? So, the best way for us to avoid that is to not allow that kind of betting in Rhode Island,” said Paul Grimaldi from the Rhode Island Department of Revenue.

But this should not be too big of an issue for Rhode Island. Sportsbooks in the state are already not allowed to take action on Rhode Island colleges no matter where they play. What’s more, state sportsbooks cannot take action on college games that happen in Rhode Island. This includes games that Rhode Island colleges are not a part of.

It is not clear if this lawsuit will end up being successful. If it is, then sports betting in Rhode Island would be reconsidered or the law could potentially be amended. For now, the soft launch of Rhode Island mobile sports betting means the action is available in time for betting on the NFL regular season.

News tags: Lawsuits | mobile sports betting | Rhode Island | RI SB 37 | Twin River casino | Twin River Tiverton