The R.I. Lottery is courting new sportsbook partners, including national heavyweights DraftKings and FanDuel, in a move that could reshape the state’s mobile sports betting market when its current contract expires in November 2026.
In August, the Lottery received interest from eight firms seeking to enter the Ocean State’s market, which has been dominated by International Game Technology PLC’s RI Sportsbook app since online sports betting launched in 2019.
The Lottery’s “request for information” from interested parties follows a failed attempt to pass legislation that would have allowed other sportsbook vendors to do business in the state. The Senate version passed, 30-2, but it stalled in the House in June.
House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi publicly stated last spring that the legislation was not needed last session with the contract with IGT in place for another year.
Now, with that agreement closer to expiring, Lottery spokesman Paul Grimaldi said the agency is acting at the behest of legislators to start weighing whether opening sports betting to other vendors would bring in more revenue for the state, among other factors.
He said the agency is still deliberating how it will evaluate preliminary information it has received from vendors, “including how factors like revenue generation, technology, user experience, and regulatory control will influence the decision.”
Lottery officials could issue a request for proposals as early as November.
Such talk doesn’t dissuade state Rep. Matthew S. Dawson, D-East Providence, from pushing ahead with re-introducing legislation to allow the expansion of the sportsbook.
Dawson, the lead sponsor of the House bill last session, points to the problems experienced on the RI Sportsbook app on Sept. 7, the NFL’s opening weekend. There was a 75-minute outage during the 1 p.m. games, locking users out of and preventing bets during a prime wagering window.
He said those technical problems highlight the risks of Rhode Island’s single-operator setup.
Although the bill stalled last session due to concerns over contract timing, Dawson said, the landscape has changed. He argued that the legislation is especially necessary to prevent the Lottery from sticking to a single-operator system and to ensure a more competitive market over time.
“That bill is going in on the first day of session and I expect it to pass quickly,” Dawson said.
Annual revenue from the mobile sportsbook has fluctuated somewhat in recent years, according to Lottery financial statements. Book revenue – revenue before expenses such as marketing – stood at $32.7 million in fiscal 2023, then declined to $31.8 million the following fiscal year before jumping up to $33.5 million in fiscal 2025, the highest annual figure since mobile sports betting started in 2019.
According to Grimaldi, those results show the mobile sportsbook is performing well. “We’re doing what we think we should be doing,” he said.
Could it be better or would adding more betting options just split the same pot of money and raise expenses? Those are some of the questions the Lottery would like to answer, Grimaldi said.
A Spectrum Gaming Group study commissioned by the Lottery last spring recommended that the state open its market to four to six online sports-wagering providers to raise revenue.
But it also cautioned that there would be limited interest from vendors because of the state’s 51% take of the revenue. Spectrum recommended lowering that rate and allowing online betting servers to be hosted outside of the state’s two casinos, where a company would have to pay a 17% hosting fee to Bally’s Corp. That would require a statewide vote to amend the state constitution, Spectrum said. n
