Rhode Island legalized in-person sports betting at the state’s two casinos through a budget bill passed in 2018. Retail sportsbooks at Twin River Lincoln and Twin River Tiverton opened for business in late 2018.

Additional legislation approved in March 2019 approved the Rhode Island Lottery to launch online betting as well. This led to the launch of Sportsbook Rhode Island in September 2019.

Sportsbook Rhode Island Promo Code and Bonuses

Sportsbook Rhode Island does not offer a welcome bonus, and it does not appear likely to do so anytime soon. Since its launch in 2019, Sportsbook RI has never announced a welcome bonus to attract new customers.

In addition, Sportsbook Rhode Island does not accept promo codes or offer other promotions for bettors.

Sportsbook RI’s dearth of promotions is likely the result of its monopoly status in Rhode Island. With no other operators to compete against for business, Sportsbook RI has little incentive to invest in welcome bonuses.

However, Rhode Island bettors near the Connecticut border can download the DraftKings, FanDuel, or SugarHouse sports betting apps and claim large welcome bonuses the next time they visit Connecticut. Connecticut sports betting sites do not require customers to be residents; they only need to be present within state lines to place real-money wagers.

Sportsbook RI Overview

To clear up any confusion, the official RI mobile sportsbook operates on two domains. If you visit one of the two Twin River Casino websites and follow the mobile sports betting links there, you will be taken to a basic landing page at SportsBetRI.com. However, you will be directed to SportsBetRhodeIsland.com to view the odds and place wagers.

Both websites are legitimate, but the one to visit when you’re ready to actually place bets is SportsBetRhodeIsland.com.

Sports fans can visit Sportsbook Rhode Island online to view the odds and begin the registration process, but state law requires all customers to visit one of the state’s two casinos in-person to complete their registration prior to placing any wagers.

To get started, fans can visit SportsBetRhodeIsland.com and fill out the new player registration form. Customers will then need to visit one of the following casinos in-person and show a government-issued ID to complete the registration process:

Bally’s Tiverton Casino Hotel

777 Tiverton Casino Blvd
Tiverton, RI 02878

Bally’s Twin River Casino Hotel Lincoln

100 Twin River Road
Lincoln, RI 02865

After completing registration, players can log in to the Sportsbook RI website or mobile app from anywhere within state lines to make deposits and place wagers.

The Rhode Island Lottery oversees all sports betting throughout the state and is partnered with both casinos as the monopoly provider of sports wagering. In 2018, the Rhode Island Lottery chose international gaming operators IGT and William Hill to power the state’s sports betting operations.

The interface itself features clean design but lacks many of the advanced features offered by sportsbooks in other states. Here, there are no team stats, past matchup data or league standings. These are minor issues, though, and are easily replaced with a few Google searches.

SportsbookRI.com Screenshots

Sportsbook Rhode Island Mobile App

The Sportsbook Rhode Island app is available for iOS and Android devices. The mobile experience largely resembles the desktop website but sized for mobile devices. Upon logging in, users are presented with a list of trending matchups and a navigation menu to view all sports leagues.

Selecting any league brings up a list of upcoming games and from there, users can select any game to see a list of matchups for that individual game. Tapping any wager adds that bet to the betting slip, where the amount to wager can be input. The betting slip will show how much is at risk along with the potential payout before the bet is confirmed.

Customers can add multiple bets to the betting slip and either take each wager individually or use the menu items on the betting slip to create parlays, round robins and teasers.

The Sportsbook RI mobile app does not offer much by way of advanced features. Users simply log in, browse upcoming games and add bets as desired. It is not the most in-depth experience, but the app is very easy to use and navigate.

SportsBookRI Mobile App Screenshots

SportsbookRI In-Play Betting

In-play betting at Sportsbook RI seems to be a work in progress at this point. It is not uncommon to log in during non-peak hours and find zero live events on offer at the time. Compare this to licensed betting sites in other states that almost always have several dozen live matchups in progress at any time and it’s a big miss for Rhode Islanders.

The focus seems to be entirely on the major North American sports, which although important, leaves a lot of action out of reach. Even during a major tennis tournament, we did not see a single in-play tennis betting market.

Sportsbook RI also lacks advanced in-play features such as live stats and digital representations of what’s happening on the field. These sorts of features can be found at mobile sportsbooks in other states but are missing in Rhode Island.

Odds in a Monopoly Market

One of the concerns whenever a single sports betting or gambling operator is awarded monopoly status as the sole authorized operator is that the odds and user experience will suffer.

A lack of competition provides less incentive for state-approved operators to offer generous odds, value-added promotions or even work that hard on the overall user experience. However, Sportsbook Rhode Island does actually face competition in the form of illegal offshore sportsbooks that continue to accept US customers to this day.

BettingUSA strongly recommends readers avoid offshore betting sites at all costs due to safety and fairness concerns, but this is nonetheless something the RI Lottery must consider if it hopes to channel bettors away from offshore sportsbooks. To that end, we can compare the odds offered by Sportsbook Rhode Island to those offered by betting sites that operate in the highly competitive New Jersey market to see if Sportsbook RI offers relatively generous lines.

When BettingUSA compared the odds at Sportsbook RI versus legal operators in other jurisdictions, we found its odds relatively competitive. In some cases, other operators took less vigorish than Sportsbook RI. In others, we found Sportsbook RI offered better odds. Ultimately, Sportsbook RI offers odds that are in line with the industry average.

However, bettors should be aware that when parlaying -110 lines the Sportsbook RI app uses fixed-odds tables, where 4-leggers pay out a measly +1,000, and 5-leggers just +2,000. That is extremely poor pricing.

To circumvent this, toss in at least one non -110 line into your parlay, which will force the app to use true odds.

SportsbookRI.com Bets and Wagers Offered

Sportsbook RI covers the major North American and international sports with a variety of standard options for each game.

A recent NFL game, for example, offered all the following markets:

• Point spread / moneyline / total
• 1^st half and 2^nd half outcomes
• Will there be a safety?
• Total touchdowns
• Highest scoring quarter
• 1^st scoring play
• Double result
• Will there be overtime?
• 1^st team touchdown
• Winning margin

Sportsbook Rhode Island also supports parlays, teasers and round robins – all of which can be constructed by adding multiple wagers to the betting slip.

The full list of sports currently available in the SportsBettingRI.com app includes:

• Auto Racing (NASCAR)
• Baseball (MLB)
• Basketball (NBA/NCAA)
• Boxing
• Football (NFL, NCAAF, CFL)
• Golf (PGA)
• Hockey (NFL)
• MMA
• Tennis (ATP/WTA)
• Soccer (UEFA, MLS, EPL, and various international leagues.

This is not nearly as extensive an array of sports leagues and markets as offered by sportsbooks in other states where competition is encouraged, but it is also not bad for a monopoly provider. Sportsbook RI covers all the major sports and types of wagers minus two limitations imposed by state law:

• No wagers on college games held in Rhode Island
• No wagers on college games held anywhere if they involve Rhode Island universities

SportsbookRI.com Deposit Methods

After registering an account and verifying in-person at one of the state’s two casinos, customers can fund their accounts via electronic bank transfer (ACH). Users will be asked to input a checking account number, routing number and an amount to deposit.

Under state law, Sportsbook Rhode Island customers may only wager money that has been successfully deposited or accumulated via successful wagers. In other words, Sportsbook RI does not extend credit to customers.

Expert Opinion: Is SportsbookRI.com Legit?

Sportsbook Rhode Island is a simple and functional sportsbook. It’s not bad for a state-authorized monopoly, but it definitely lacks the polish and advanced features offered by sportsbooks in competitive states such as New Jersey.

A shortage of in-play events and lack of a deposit bonus or other promotions are two big misses that could be easily rectified to make this a more attractive option for Rhode Island sports fans.

Overall, Sportsbook RI gets the job done as a basic sportsbook. Users can log in, bet on most major sports at reasonable odds, and know they’ll be paid if they win.