State of Rhode Island
Part of United States
Rhode Island became the seventh US state with legal online casino on 5 March 2024, and did it on terms no other state has matched. The interactive licence sits with the Rhode Island Lottery, Bally's Corporation is the only authorised operator, and the state takes 61% of online slot revenue and 15.5% of online table game revenue. Those are the highest online casino tax rates in the country by a wide margin. Pennsylvania, the next highest, takes 54% of online slots; New Jersey takes 15%. Rhode Island's rate is only commercially survivable because it comes with exclusivity: Bally's is not competing for market share against a field of rivals, so it does not need the marketing budget that competition demands. That trade, a monopoly in exchange for a punitive rate, is the model to watch. It is the opposite of the New Jersey approach and it produces a smaller market with a much larger state share of it.
The 61% applies to online slots. Online table games are taxed at 15.5%, so a single blended rate for Rhode Island will always be wrong.
Rhode Island is the strongest available evidence on whether exclusivity plus a very high rate beats competition plus a low one. Small states considering iGaming have a worked example here that did not exist before 2024.
America's regulated online casino gaming scene continues its impressive trajectory, with April 2025 delivering a robust performance across the seven states
State of Rhode Island
Bally's Corporation