Bally’s became the second licensed sportsbook in Rhode Island, where 88% of betting demand in 2025 remained with offshore brands.
Rhode Island’s Lottery Division selected Bally’s Corporation as the state’s second licensed online bookmaker. Bally Bet is expected to launch in November–December 2026.
Since 2019, the state has had only one legal online service — Sportsbook Rhode Island, operated by IGT on behalf of the state lottery. Seven years of monopoly left a mark in the data.
A legal market with offshore demand
Rhode Island operates under a monopoly model with a single licensed sportsbook operator. Blask tracks 287 gambling brands active in the market, and only one of them holds a local licence. In 2025, Sportsbook Rhode Island accounted for an average of 12% of search demand, while the rest went to offshore brands operating outside the state tax perimeter.
Rhode Island’s CEB over the past year stood at $265.8M. Actual revenue from the licensed operator over the same period was $105.61M. Of almost a quarter-billion dollars in market potential, less than half falls within the regulated perimeter.
These data points show the limit of the monopoly model. Rhode Island legalized the market, but effectively left players with one option inside the regulated perimeter. As a result, most search-based demand stayed with offshore brands, while the licensed segment captured the smaller part of the market the state itself was trying to control.
Bally’s enters online from an existing local position
Bally’s is not a new player in Rhode Island. The corporation operates two land-based casinos in the state — Bally’s Lincoln and Bally’s Tiverton — and has provided the retail sportsbook infrastructure for Sportsbook Rhode Island since 2019.
In Blask, the brand has been tracked in the state since October 2024. Over the past 12 months, Bally’s ranks 11th in Rhode Island by BAP, with a 1.89% share. However, the brand’s CEB has already reached $67.51M. By comparison, Sportsbook Rhode Island shows a CEB of $38.1M with 10.43% BAP.
The gap between demand and CEB matters here. Bally’s remains a small brand by current search demand, but Blask estimates its CEB materially higher. This is influenced by its existing offline infrastructure in the state, its local player base, and an already operating sportsbook product in other US jurisdictions.
At the same time, Bally Bet cannot launch before November 26, 2026. The licence also remains conditional: Rhode Island Lottery Division may revoke it if the operator fails to meet the regulator’s pre-launch requirements.