Rhode Island to Launch Online Casino on March 1

• Rhode Island will become the seventh US state with legal online casino gaming from March 1.
• Live dealer games will not be available until April, while online poker won’t be offered anytime soon.
• Bally’s Corporation, the owner of the state’s only two land-based casinos, holds a monopoly on igaming.
• Bally’s will pay a 61% tax rate on slots and a 15.5% tax rate on table games in exchange for the igaming monopoly.

Rhode Island is six weeks away from becoming the seventh US state with legal online casino gaming.

But online poker, while legal in the state, will not be offered anytime soon. And live dealer games will not be available for another month.

The Ocean State will launch online casino on March 1, according to Paul Grimaldi, spokesman for the Rhode Island Department of Revenue (RIDOR). The Rhode Island Lottery, which serves as gaming regulator, is a division of RIDOR.

Providence-based Bally’s Corporation, which owns and operates the only two land-based casinos in the state, holds a monopoly on igaming as well. Bally’s has powered the state’s only online sportsbook since September 2019.

What the new gaming platform will be called remains to be seen, but it will likely be Bally Casino. Grimaldi did not disclose the name of the platform.

“We plan on a March 1 launch in some form,” Grimaldi told Poker Industry PRO. “We may have more to share after the state Lottery Commission meeting the week of January 22.”