Digital Wager Wire highlights the most important events impacting the domestic and international sports betting and gaming industry each week throughout the year.
Rhode Island Considering More Sportsbooks
The smallest state in the union has different ideas regarding how to maximize revenues from its mobile sports betting and iGaming industry. The conventional wisdom in the state has been to grant exclusivity to one company and charge an exorbitant tax rate on revenues for the privilege of this monopoly.
Currently, Bally’s is the sole online casino gaming entity, while the state’s lottery provider, IGT, has control of Rhode Island’s mobile sports betting industry but pays an onerous 51% on revenues. It stands to reason that the higher the taxes on revenues, the less generous the sportsbooks will be with bonus incentives, advertising, and odds, three critical factors in maximizing profits in the age of digital sports betting.
Legislative Efforts to Open the Market
Some Ocean State legislators are beginning to rethink that blueprint, and Senate Bill 748 would negate the IGT’s mobile sports betting monopoly when its contract expires in 2026. The bill currently sits in the Senate Labor and Gaming Commission, but the chances of this bill being heard during this legislative session are not good considering the commission has 30 other bills to contemplate before the session adjourns.
However, should the bill be heard, ultimately advanced, and approved, there is the issue of the exorbitant tax rate that could very well dissuade major industry players like DraftKings and FanDuel from wanting to participate in a market with only 1.1 million people. That may cause the politicians to lower the tax rate to attract more platforms, which could ultimately lead to higher handles, larger profits for the sportsbooks, and more tax revenue for the state.
Connecticut Considering Multi-State Poker Agreement
Online poker is legal in Connecticut, but so far those who have secured licenses, FanDuel and DraftKings, have chosen not to launch their products. The issue is that the pool of people would be limited to those poker players in a state with just 3.7 million people who choose to sign up with one of the two companies. That means small tournaments and low cash prizes, which would lead to dwindling interest.
That interest has not been allowed to dwindle because both FanDuel and DraftKings understand the inherent problems in launching poker to a limited audience. However, that narrative could change very soon if SB 01464 is passed, allowing Connecticut to join the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA).
Future of Connecticut Poker
SB01464 categorizes online poker as a “peer-to-peer casino game,” which is described as a “card game, contest, or tournament, including, but not limited to, a poker game, contest, or tournament.” It allows players to “compete against one another and do not compete against the licensee operating such game,” and the licensee operating those games “assesses any fee associated with such game.”
The bill was introduced last week to the Senate’s Joint Committee on General Law, and if it does become law, it would allow the governor to “authorize online gaming operators to conduct multijurisdictional Internet gaming for peer-to-peer casino games.”
Connecticut poker players could then join others from Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Michigan, and West Virginia to play in larger tournaments with bigger cash prizes. This would generate interest, and digital poker would suddenly be alive in the Nutmeg State.
