For the past six years, anyone who places bets online in Rhode Island had just a single app available — one with some harsh reviews from users and lawmakers. But that could change later this year, the target date for the Rhode Island Lottery to select a second online sports betting vendor to join the […]
A computer monitor displays the digital sportsbook for Bally's Corp. which cannot be accessed in Rhode Island. But it could soon join the state's small market as regulators intend to award one more vendor a contract by late 2026. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
For the past six years, anyone who places bets online in Rhode Island had just a single app available — one with some harsh reviews from users and lawmakers. But that could change later this year, the target date for the Rhode Island Lottery to select a second online sports betting vendor to join the state’s small digital sportsbook.
The Rhode Island Lottery intends to award a five-year contract to a company willing to “provide competitive sports wagering products and services” in the state’s market in November 2026, according to a 55-page request for qualifications issued Dec. 2.
Potential bidders will have through noon on Feb. 19 to respond to the Lottery’s latest step in expanding Rhode Island’s small sportsbook market beyond the Sportsbook RI app run by International Game Technology (IGT).
“The intention is to seek one new app vendor (in addition to SportsbookRI) to begin offering online sports betting after November 2026,” Lottery spokesperson Paul Grimaldi said in an email to Rhode Island Current. “There would be an evaluation period, of unspecified length at the moment, to decide how well the new app is working, being accepted by bettors, and whether it’s adding to the state’s online sports betting revenue.”
Adding one more vendor still falls short of a recommendation in a Lottery-commissioned report published May 1 by Spectrum Gaming Group. The report called for the state to add four to six new online sports betting vendors to stay competitive with neighboring states. Massachusetts has seven vendors, while Connecticut allows three.
IGT, formerly headquartered in Providence before its 2024 acquisition by Las Vegas-based Apollo Global Management Inc., has managed the Sportsbook RI app since September 2019. The app has had mixed reviews from users even as it boasts a 4.4 star rating on Apple’s App Store and a 4.4 on Google Play.
“Every time I win a PGA wager I have to call on Monday to try to collect my money,” one Google Play user wrote in August 2025. “It usually takes two days of calling for them to grade the wager.”
“They are lucky we only have one sportbook in RI or they would go out of business,” the same user added.
Another user wrote they would give the app zero stars if they could.
“I hate this app, customer service apologizes and says that they are expediting my case, but I never get a response from a supervisor, I don’t even think they have supervisors, because I’ve never spoken to one!” they wrote.
IGT will remain a part of the state’s market. The request for qualifications states IGT is contracted to provide equipment, technology, services and/or products related to both retail and online sports wagering through Nov. 25, 2028. The state’s most recent contract with the company signed in 2023, however, set a November 2026 expiration date but allowed three extensions: a three-year “first extension,” which was granted in 2023, followed by a two-year term, and a five-year.
Senate Majority Leader Frank Ciccone, a Providence Democrat who led the state’s push for additional sports betting vendors last year, said he was not aware of IGT’s extension.
“I was aware that it ends in 2026,” he told Rhode Island Current.
Grimaldi referred inquiry on the contract to IGT, whose spokesperson Phil O’Shaughnessy declined to comment.
Lawmakers have tried to make sports betting more appealing in Rhode Island in recent years as a way to recapture bets that have since gone to neighboring states, including failed bills filed last year to expand the number of sports betting vendors to between three and five by July 2026.
An October 2025 report by the Rhode Island Office of the Auditor General found revenue generated by sports wagers declined by 3.2% in the most recent fiscal year that ended June 30, 2025 — with only $18.6 million transferred to the state’s general fund. In fiscal year 2024, the state received $19.2 million from sports betting.
Connecticut, which legalized sports betting in 2021, saw over $26 million in revenue from online bets in the most recent fiscal year, according to data from the state’s Department of Consumer Protection.
Massachusetts, which launched sports betting in 2023, saw over $157 million in online gaming revenue collected by the state in the most recent fiscal year, according to data from the commonwealth’s Gaming Commission.
Gaming companies had through Jan. 2 to email questions about the state’s solicitation to regulators by Jan. 2. Answers are expected to be emailed by Jan. 23 and posted on the state’s online bid portal afterward, according to the request for qualifications.
But just how much interest other companies have is being kept under wraps.
“RILOT has nothing to share at this time regarding submissions to the RFQ,” Grimaldi said.
R.I.’s sportsbook market may open up to competition next year. Here’s who’s waiting in the wings.
Eight firms responded to a preliminary call for interest issued over the summer, including IGT and Providence-based Bally’s Corp. Other respondents to that request included Fanatics, Kambi, DraftKings, BetMGM, OpenBet, and FanDuel.
Rhode Island Current reached out to each company for comment on whether they plan to respond to the Lottery’s request for qualifications.
Patti Doyle, a spokesperson for Bally’s, said the company intends to submit a proposal to the state by its Feb. 19 deadline. As of 2026, the Providence-headquartered company runs online sports betting in 11 states, including Massachusetts.
Kambi spokesperson Peter Ranere told Rhode Island Current the Malta-based company “remains engaged in the process and continues to evaluate opportunities related to Rhode Island’s online sports betting market.”
The Rhode Island Lottery’s request asks that a potential vendor be able to get online wagering up and running by Nov. 30. No timeline has been set for a formal request for proposals.
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Category: General Sports
