Rhode Island moved quickly to legalize sports betting after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 decision to strike down the federal ban. The state was among the first in the nation to recognize a simple reality: sports betting was already happening, and bringing it into a legal, regulated framework would create consumer protections, generate public revenue, and provide meaningful oversight.
The decision was forward-looking and successful.
But being one of the first states to legalize sports betting is not the same thing as maintaining a competitive market…