Rhode Island Set to Offer Online Casino Gaming by March

By March 1^st, 2024 online casino gaming will be live in a seventh US state. Rhode Island is ready to start offering services in two months, with the state’s only operator, Bally’s, waiting for the green light. The Rhode Island Department of Revenue announced the launch date this week.

Online Gaming Coming Soon

Plans have been in the works for quite some time for Rhode Island to become the next state to offer an iGaming industry. Specifics of how the services will begin are unknown, but we expect more details to be announced in the coming weeks.

The Rhode Island Lottery oversees iGaming regulation and licensing, with the group prepared to oversee and manage the new services. Bally’s Corporation is the only land-based operator in Rhode Island, with the company responsible for two physical gaming locations. The brand will soon become the only online casino operator in the state.

Bally already has experience in the gaming realm, having launched online sports betting in RI in late 2019. So far, we do not know the name of the online gaming platform that will be active by March 1 or the games on offer. We expect the site will have a similar look to the Bally’s brand featured in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

We know that live dealer gaming will not be featured until April 1, and online poker may take longer to launch. Bally’s is working with Stakelogic in Rhode Island for its gaming software. The two signed a deal in September 2023 ahead of the industry launch.

No Traditional Table Games

In an odd turn of events, Rhode Island will offer online casino gaming without the option of traditional table games. The online gambling measure passed in June 2023 stipulated that online table games can only be offered in live dealer format.

Bally’s will utilize Stakelogic software to offer live dealer content. The brand is well known for featuring baccarat, roulette, and blackjack games. With Rhode Island only offering live dealer table games, will it affect the popularity of titles like blackjack and roulette in the state?

While live dealer is a top choice among online gamblers, so are traditional table games. In every other state with a legalized online gambling market, players have access to both types of table games. It would be interesting to see once the services are live if the non-traditional table game offering was a smart decision of lawmakers.