The Rhode Island Senate is poised to vote on a pair of bills that would open the state’s sports betting industry to new vendors and impose harsher penalties on people who allow underage online gambling.
And the odds look good for passage in the upper chamber, with longtime supporter of the state’s gambling industry, and new Senate Majority Leader, Frank Ciccone, leading the charge. But across the rotunda, the fate of legislation remains unclear.
Since 2023, International Game Technology (IGT) PLC has had the exclusive right to run the state’s digital sportsbook. Lawmakers now want to end that monopoly by allowing the Rhode Island Lottery to consider additional vendors when IGT’s contract runs out in November 2026 — opening the door for companies such as DraftKings and FanDuel to take wagers for the first time since the state first launched sports betting in 2018.
Under Ciccone’s amended legislation, the Lottery would award at least two and no more than five vendor contracts. The original bill called for the state to award at least five contracts.
“It’s a way of cleaning it up,” Ciccone said of the wording update in an interview Tuesday morning. “The Lottery was always looking at more than one option.”
A Lottery-commissioned report published May 1 by Spectrum Gaming Group recommended the state add four to six new online sports betting vendors to stay competitive with neighboring states. Massachusetts has seven vendors, while Connecticut allows three.
The Lottery intends to issue a request for information on expansion in early 2026.
Ciccone said he filed his proposal at the request of the late Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, who he said “hated” the quality of the existing Sportsbook RI app. And now the legislation has the backing of the newly-elected Senate President Valarie Lawson, an East Providence Democrat.
“She believes the sports betting bill has merit,” Senate spokesperson Greg Paré said in an email.
The Senate Committee on Labor and Gaming recommended the measure 7-0 during its meeting Monday. The bill is scheduled for a floor vote on Wednesday.
Companion legislation in the House sponsored by Rep. Matthew Dawson, an East Providence Democrat, remains held for further study following its initial hearing before the House Committee on Finance on May 1.
House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi previously said the bill was unnecessary since the state still remains under contract with IGT through almost the end of 2026. But Shekarchi said Monday he plans to review the language following the Senate vote.
The speaker’s stance also applies to Ciccone’s bill, which would impose up to one year in prison and a $1,000 fine for letting anyone under 21 make bets or play games through the mobile casino managed by Bally’s Corp.
Fears that high school-aged kids would get hooked on iGaming led lawmakers to restrict access to anyone under 21 when state officials legalized online gaming in 2023. The Rhode Island State Police requested this year’s legislation to help officers enforce the age restrictions.
Ciccone’s bill received unanimous approval from the Senate committee he previously chaired, but has not yet been scheduled for a floor vote.
Companion legislation sponsored by Rep. Gregory Costantino, a Lincoln Democrat, advanced to the House floor following passage by the chamber’s Committee on Judiciary in a 10-5 vote on April 29.
The House panel initially rejected the proposal over concerns that 18-to 20-year-olds allowed to gamble in person at Rhode Island’s two casinos might end up with a criminal record for doing the same on their phones.
The House has not scheduled a floor vote on Costantino’s bill yet.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
