Rhode Island’s director of the state’s lottery operations told a joint committee on Monday they are laser-focused on launching iGaming in the state on March 1 while up against a challenge to hire enough people to manage operations.
On Monday, the Director of Rhode Island Lottery, Mark Furcolo, met with the state’s Permanent Joint Committee for a monthly update on the lottery and gaming efforts.
“We continue a pace on iGaming, just laser-focused on iGaming and getting that up on time,” Furcolo told the committee.
Before going into details on iGaming, Furcolo provided a report on lottery sales, video lottery terminal income, casino table games revenue, and sports wagering totals.
Sports Wagering 2023
Focusing on sports wagering, Rhode Island has two retail sportsbooks, one at Bally’s Twin Rivers Lincoln Casino and one at Bally’s Tiverton Casino. The only sportsbook mobile app available in the state is Sportsbook Rhode Island, a product developed between the state lottery office and International Gaming Technology (IGT).
Furcolo told the committee through the end of December the sportsbook handled 17.8% less money than the prior year.
“We have wagers of $222.4 million this year through December, compared to $270.6 million through December of last year, a difference of $48.2 million,” Furcolo told the committee. “Oddly mobile is up 4.2% year-over-year, the retail sportsbooks are down. Lincoln is down 57% and Tiverton is down 48%.”
Furcolo explained the drop is mainly due to the neighboring state Massachusetts launching sports betting.
Rhode Island launched sports betting in 2019 with Massachusetts following in 2023. Rhode Island has a single mobile app run by IGT while Massachusetts has eight mobile apps available. Rhode Island has three years left of its contract with IGT for its single mobile app.
“We do plan to do a study to look at what an incremental cost we would have to have to support more than one app,” Furcolo said. “It’s a lot of work to maintain a sportsbook. We’re just short-staffed.”
Bally’s Senior Vice President for RI Regulatory Relations, Craig Sculor, echoed the same concerns for the company’s two land-based casinos.
Rhode Island Casinos
“The competition remains difficult, a lot of money being spent by our competitors in areas such as marketing, promotions, and entertainment,” Sculos said. “Every casino in the northeast is struggling to get help. We still face that issue of not being able to properly staff to volume. We’re trying to do everything we can to staff up so we can take advantage of the peak days.”
From an entertainment standpoint, Sculos said the properties have their usual assortment of gift cards and giveaways such as grills and air fryers.
Committee Chairman Frank Ciccone III asked if Bally’s casinos are “really” competitive with other out-of-state casinos in terms of bonuses and gifts.
“Unfortunately, not, and it’s a direct function of the tax structure,” Sculos said.
Massachusetts and Connecticut casinos pay a tax rate of around 25% on revenue while Bally’s in Rhode Island pays upward of 61%.
“The amount of money that you can reimburse to a player is substantially less,” Sculor told committee members “Our competitors are able to put a lot more free play into the market. It’s a mountain that we’ve been trying to climb for quite a period of time.”
Sculos added, “If you have two offers in front of you, one for $25 and one for $175. I think it’s a pretty easy decision that a player has to make and that’s the environment in which we operate.”
iGaming Launch Ahead
Rhode Island’s Governor, Dan McKee, signed Senate Bill 948 into law on June 22, 2023, which put forward the legal basis to start online casinos in the state, also known as iGaming. Officials say they are on schedule to launch iGaming on March 1.
During Monday’s committee meeting, Chairman Ciccone asked, “Knowing that we’re having problems with staffing. How are we making out what staffing for the new iGaming setup?”
“I can tell you from the lottery side we’re trying to hire people, it’s a challenge,” Furcolo said. “We’re trying to hire an accountant to track the money and an internal auditor to make sure all the controls are in place.”
Bally’s has a “whole different level of challenge than I have,” Furcolo said.
“I think the team at the lottery is doing an incredible job,” Furcolo added. “Really focus, working hard, working weekends to make the March date.”
