An injunction halt to sports gambling in Rhode Island was recently denied by the state’s Superior Court. The recent ruling settled a lawsuit filed by Dan Harrop in May of 2109, as he believed the wagering on sports in Rhode Island should cease since it was not approved in a specific manner in an older referendum that broadened laws pertaining to gaming in the state.
The Rhode Island Superior Court denied the injunction disagreeing with Harrop in stating that ample notice was given to the state’s voters in that the expansion would cover all types of casino gaming. The court also added that there is no need to explain every detail by the questions in the referendum. This means that sports betting in Rhode Island did not have to be mentioned explicitly.
Rhode Island Lottery spokesperson Paul Grimaldi recently stated, “We appreciate the time and attention dedicated to this issue by the Superior Court. The ruling issued today reinforces what previous legal opinions have affirmed, that sports betting is both allowable under the law and that voters approved of its start in Rhode Island and its subsequent availability online.”
Grimaldi went onto say, “Sports betting has proven popular among the state’s residents since its inception here in November 2018, with the revenue generated from it supporting investments in education, health care, infrastructure and more.”
The ruling did not come as a surprise to Harrop, and the next stage of the issue is trying for an injunction in the Rhode Island Supreme Court. All of the appeals for the Superior Court go directly to the state’s Supreme Court.
Harrop had stated that his personal aim in the matter might have led to the Superior Court ruling. In terms of the appeal, he stated, “Yes, already in the works.”
“We always expected this would (go) to the Supreme Court in Rhode Island. It’s a tough pull for a Superior Court judge (who might like to be a Supreme Court Judge at some point) to find errors in the actions of the Governor (who nominates Supreme Court judges) and the General (Assembly that confirms such). The Supremes do not have that personal issue.”
Background of the Lawsuit
The lawsuit filed by Harrop was actually a dead one going back to September of last year. Rhode Island’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit was granted by the Rhode Island Superior Court.
The court stated that no harm came to him because of sports wagering. However, he then showed he had been harmed by sports betting, showing a lost NFL bet he made against the New England Patriots.
Tough April for Rhode Island Sports Betting
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the Rhode Island sports betting market very hard. May numbers will be released soon, but in April, the handle for sports betting was a little under $600,000 and had a decrease of 93.4% from the handle from March.
The state only had sports betting revenue of $27.381, which is a whopping decrease of 96.7% from the previous month.
One of the main reasons the handle was so low in April was the lack of sports available to bet on with the suspension of most leagues and events. However, another big reason was the in-person registration issue.
In Rhode Island, people that want to bet on sports have to register for a mobile account at one of the two Twin River land-based casinos. People could not open an account there, considering those casinos were closed since mid-March.
The two Twin Rivers casinos were expected to reopen Monday.
Projections Will Be Far Off
It is pretty obvious that the lofty revenue goals for Rhode Island sports betting of $22 million will be far off for the 2020 fiscal year. Not only will the revenue for sports betting be far off, but overall gambling revenue for the state may not surpass $22 million.
After the April numbers were released, the total gaming revenue for Rhode Island gambling was $18.4 million. The state receives 51% of that revenue, so that means it should get around $9.4 million for the 2020 fiscal year, which comes to an end on June 30.
