Bally Casino generated $1.2 million in net gaming revenue in Rhode Island in March, the debut month for the state’s first and only online casino. Regulators revealed the first official revenue numbers to legislators and the general public on April 22 during a Permanent Joint Committee on State Lottery meeting.
That number sets a slower pace than either the official projection or Bonus’s estimate, but Rhode Island online casino revenue will only increase, iGaming officials promised.
Presenting a slide captioned “Highly Successful iGaming Launch,” Mark Furcolo told lawmakers:
I would say the momentum continues to build very nicely for iGaming.
Furcolo is the director of the Rhode Island Lottery (TheLot), which regulates iGaming.
Speaking about that momentum, he said March saw revenue of $1.2 million. However, last week alone, Bally Casino generated $569,000, Furcolo said. That’s 50% of “all of March.”
Craig Sculos, senior vice president of Rhode Island regulatory relations with Bally’s Corporation, said adding more live dealer hours and products significantly increased revenue in April.
Sculos said:
I think April is certainly the better direction of where the program is going.
For instance, on April 19, Bally Casino included 24 more online slot titles from Light and Wonder (LNW) to supplement those already available for online gamblers from vendor IGT.
In other words, Bally Casino was just starting to build its Rhode Island online casino in March, Sculos said. So, it follows that the $1 million in net gaming revenue from slots and $200,000 from table gaming in March will be surpassed in April, he said.
In comparison, Sportsbook Rhode Island‘s year-to-date revenue through March 31 was $29.8 million. That’s despite the Massachusetts sports betting marketplace launching this year and pulling away market share, Furcolo said.
Meanwhile, Rhode Island’s iGaming marketplace has little competition. The March 1 iGaming marketplace launch with the monopoly awarded to Providence-based Bally’s (Bally’s Corporation 17,16 -0,17%) was the result of the only new state to legalize online casinos during 2023. In 2024, no state created legal iGaming.
Rhode Island Bally Casino Backdrop Foreboding
Now that Furcolo reports that Bally Casino is adding 134 new online casino “customers” a day, the future of the online gambling brand might seem bright.
However, CNBC‘s Contessa Brewer reported on April 2 that Bally’s investors want the gambling giant to return to its retail casino roots and shed other aspects of the brand, including online gambling, to stave off a takeover bid.
Meanwhile, the unusual Rhode Island online casino is continuing to take bets. Live dealers from Stakelogic assist blackjack and roulette players, while online slots are unmanned.
Before the site soft-launched on March 1, 315 account holders pre-registered to gamble, Paul Grimaldi told Bonus then. Grimaldi is a spokesman for the online casino gambling regulator, the Rhode Island Department of Revenue (RIDOR).
Furcolo tallied that there were 4,951 Rhode Island online casino accountholders at the end of March. By April 18, that total increased to 7,391.
Furcolo reemphasized:
The momentum continues to build.
He presented the charts below as illustrations.
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