Sports betting in Rhode Island will begin this coming Monday, November 26.

The occasion will be celebrated by state leaders at a launch party at Twin River Casino in Lincoln at 3:00 in the afternoon with an opening bet.

That opening bet may be placed by either Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello or Senate President Dominic Ruggerio who are expected to be present at the launch.

The passed budget included $23.5 million in revenue from the assumption that sports betting would have started on October 1st.

The ceremony will take place on the third floor of the casino in the Simulcast area.

https://turnto10.com/news/local/sports-betting-to-start-at-twin-river-casino-on-november-26

LINCOLN, R.I. — Legal sports gambling will begin Monday afternoon in Rhode Island at the Twin River Casino in Lincoln. On Friday, employees were doing last-minute work to prepare for the anticipated crush of bettors.

They inspected the new Sportsbook Rhode Island logo on printed receipt paper. They fiddled with computers that will process bets on major American professional and college sports. They swept floors and checked out new construction. All in preparation for the first action in a sports-crazed region — at least the first betting that’s on the right side of the law.

“We’re now giving people a location where they can come do it legally ... in a safe environment,” said Craig Sculos, vice president and general manager of Twin River Casino, during a tour with the media Friday morning.

People will be able to put their money on sports games after 3 p.m. on Monday in the third-floor area where simulcast betting on horse and dog races already takes place. The theater-type seating includes the old grandstand that used to look out on the greyhound races that ran on a track outside. Bettors still have a view of the big tote board outside, past the individual monitors where they can flip through games or the screens dedicated to the various sports.

And sometime in December, the casino expects to open another location at Twin River in Lincoln for sports betting, more of a “social” space with tables. The location doesn’t have a name yet; a rendering made the space look like the inside of a modern sports bar, with the word “ODDS” on the wall.

“Really what it does for us is it adds another amenity for guests,” Sculos said of sports betting at Twin River’s casinos in Lincoln and Tiverton.

The 3,600-square-foot lounge space on the second floor of the Lincoln casino will be able to accommodate about 200 people sitting and standing, Sculos said. On Friday it was clearly still under construction, with buckets and equipment on the ground. It’s being built in a space carved out from the Wicked Good Bar & Grill, which will still be open.

The start of sports betting at the Tiverton Hotel Casino will be announced Monday, with kickoff probably sometime in the next week to 10 days, a spokeswoman said. Those are the only two legal betting locations in the state.

The start of legal sports betting in Rhode Island, through legislation passed earlier this year, was delayed from Oct. 1. Revenue for the state was originally estimated at $23.5 million until the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2019, but that was based on an Oct. 1 opening date. The state now estimates getting $11.5 million in sports-betting revenue between Monday and June 30, with $27.3 million in new revenue next fiscal year.

Gamblers are expected to bet $814 million a year on sports at the Twin River casino.

Sculos said the casino itself didn’t perform its own revenue projection, but officials expect more people to come from around the region to cast legal sports bets. Rhode Island is the only New England state so far to legalize it.

While they’re at the casinos in Lincoln or Tiverton, gamblers might also play table games or dine at a restaurant, Sculos said. People who might not otherwise have come to a casino might come to check out sports gambling, he said.

“It opens up our universe of players,” Sculos said.

Asked about the prospect of a new avenue of problem gambling, Sculos and casino spokeswoman Patti Doyle pointed to the resources the casino offers. People with gambling problems can ask to be barred from coming to the casino, and they can call (877) 9-GAMBLE.

“It’s something we take seriously,” said Doyle.

Twin River teamed up with the state, IGT and bookmaking company William Hill to run the sports-betting operation. The first big game will be the NFL’s Monday Night Football, which on Monday pits the Tennessee Titans against the Houston Texans. The first action will be the standard sports bets, such as the over-under and the point spread. More exotic bets — such as prop bets on whether Tom Brady will throw four touchdowns in a particular game — might come down the road, as well as betting on other sports such as English Premier League soccer.

People will also be able to bet on MLB, NHL and NBA games, and NCAA football and basketball. The law allowing legal sports betting in Rhode Island came after a U.S. Supreme Court decision this year. The law forbids betting on Rhode Island college teams, but according to a Department of Revenue spokesman, betting on the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Providence Bruins will be allowed.

Bets take place in $2 increments, Sculos said, and maximum bets will vary depending on the sport.

http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20181123/behind-the-scenes-look-at-soon-to-be-home-of-legal-sports-gambling-in-ri