Rhode Island Sportsbooks Starting To Win, Post Highest Hold Percentages

June sports betting in Rhode Island accounted for the worst bettor performance, only keeping 85.41% of all action.
Over $2.5 million was contributed to Rhode Island through taxes during April, May, and June.
Twin River Casino has taken in four out of every five dollars wagered within Rhode Island.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Sports bettors in Rhode Island have laid down over $100 million in wagers since the beginning of the year with the majority of it coming in the first three months.

However, the last four months of betting action in Rhode Island has taken a strong turn. The bettors that had been consistently beating the books – resulting in the lowest hold percentages amongst legal sportsbooks – have flipped the switch to off.

Rhode Island posted had the lowest hold percentage (9.94%) of every legal sports betting state during 2019 Q2.

However, the end of the quarter fared quite differently, as June’s report showed the first time that either of the sportsbooks kept more than 12.5% of action… and for June, both kept above 14.5%.

Attaining the highest-ever hold percentage in the state’s betting history, June marked only the third time that Twin River Casino and Tiverton Casino had even kept more than 7.5% of a monthly handle.

With this decline in the sports bettors’ success, the revenue for the sportsbooks and state have steadily increased. With a dollar short of $2.15 million kept by the two casinos, June marked a record high in revenue.

Per regulations, the state receives 51% of the books’ revenue, and the $1.09 million contributed to the state was the second time (April) that Rhode Island had received $1 million or higher in state tax revenue for a month.

Though the overall handle has been on the decline during the summer months, Rhode Island sportsbooks were able to increase their revenue from May to June by $1.25 million, despite taking in $4.1 million less in action.

In fact, 95.6% of all revenue ($6.56 million) has been made in the last four months, since the state launched sports betting. Meanwhile, the sports betting handle during that time only equated to 58% ($74 million) of the total money wagered in Rhode Island.

Twin River Casino deserves the attention most, as their $103 million handle has been responsible for four-fifths of the entire state’s industry. But even more so, in three of the last four months, Twin River has kept over $1 million in revenue three times, good enough account for 84% of revenue since their late-November launch.

As for Tiverton Casino, their betting handle is a month away from breaking the $25 million year-to-date mark and their year-to-date revenue is approaching $1.5 million.

When July’s report comes around, another milestone to keep an eye on is the combined revenue for the two casinos since the beginning of the year. Assuming a month similar to the past four, Twin River and Tiverton could combine for $7.5 million in combined revenue for the first seven months of 2019.

News tags: Mississippi | Rhode Island | Tiverton Casino | Twin River casino