Guide to Rhode Island Gambling Age: Casinos, Sports Betting & More

As one of the oldest states in the US, Rhode Island is a long and checkered history with gambling. On face value, Rhode Island would currently appear to have an incredibly liberal approach to gaming. But peer below the surface, and you will see that while many forms of gambling are legal, there are many limitations placed on the illegal types.

Currently, Rhode Island has two large land-based commercial casinos operating within its borders alongside many horse and dog racetracks. No tribal casinos are working in the state, and severe limitations are placed on the limited forms of legal online gaming available in Rhode Island. Below you’ll find the Rhode Island gambling age associated with relevant activities.

In the table above, we have outlined the legal gambling age for each form of legalized gaming in Rhode Island. As you can see, Rhode Island has a blanket lawful age of 18. If there is not an age situated underneath the form of gaming, that form is not yet legal in Rhode Island.

On this page, we will discuss all legal forms of real money playing currently present in Rhode Island and the legal age associated with each. We will also consider the history of gambling in Rhode Island, paying special attention to the history of gambling laws. Should there be any gaming law reform on the horizon for Rhode Island, we will also point this out.

Casino Age in Rhode Island

Rhode Island legalized commercial casinos in the early 2000s, however, the state has limited the number of casinos in operation severely. As of 2020, Rhode Island has two commercial casinos currently operating within its borders. The legal gambling age for casino one must be in order to wager at these two casinos is 18.

Rhode Island has had a convoluted and drawn out past with commercial gambling. In 1992 Rhode island’s legislature approved a bill that allowed electronic gaming devices in a select group of gaming locations. In 2012, after state residents voted on it, table games were able to be installed at the states then only casino the Twin River Casino. Both casinos currently in operation in Rhode Island offer traditional table and card casino games alongside a wide selection of electronic gambling machines such as slots.

In an unusual move, Rhode island’s two casinos are operated under the authority of the Rhode Island Lottery. Where commercial casinos are generally operated in other states by private companies, Rhode Island has opted for a state-backed institution as the casino operator. This is a financially savvy move by the Rhode Island state authorities as this ensures all revenue from the states to casinos is able to be reinvested in the state.

While there may not be many land-based commercial casinos operating in Rhode Island, the scarcity of them has caused the two casinos to become destinations and even holiday locations for Rhode Island residents. With statewide casino gaming revenue consistently increasing year on year, Rhode Island state could look to increase the number of casinos it houses, so long as the expansion has the support of the local residents.

What are The Casinos In Rhode Island that accept 18 year Olds?

Rhode Island is a gamblers paradise for 18-year-olds. All forms of gambling only require that an individual be 18 years old in order to participate. 18-year-olds not even able to gamble at the states’ two commercial casinos, meaning they can take advantage of the many traditional casino games on offer such as blackjack, roulette, poker, and slot machines.

For those individuals above the age of 18 and who want to gamble at one of Rhode Island’s two commercial casinos, we’ve pulled together the names and addresses of them and put them in the table below.

Sports Betting In Rhode Island

Both in person and online sports betting is legal in Rhode Island. The legal Rhode Island gambling age for both in-person and online sports betting is 18 in Rhode Island. in an unusual move for Rhode Island, it was one of the first states to adopt measures to legalize sports betting once The Supreme Court overruled the professional and amateur sports protection act 1992 in 2018.

Well, Rhode Island was quick to start the legalization process of sports betting it took a while for sports betting to become a reality stop sports betting was legalized in June of 2019 and the first legal bets were placed in November of that year.

Under the sports betting law entered into Rhode Island’s legislature in 2019, Rhode Island’s state lottery maintained its monopoly on gambling within the state. Sports betting is only available in person at Rhode island’s two commercial casinos, which are run by the state lottery.

In terms of online sports betting, in typical Rhode Island fashion, there are also severe limitations placed on this. Online sports betting is also run by the Rhode Island lottery and is only offered on one platform. In order to limit the ease of setting up online sports betting account, any knew accountholder has to register their account in person at one of the state’s two land-based commercial casinos before they can begin placing online bets.

Despite the limitations placed on sports betting In Rhode Island, within the first 5 weeks of sports betting being active it had already generated over $1,000,000 in revenue for the state. With many other states legalizing sports betting, especially neighboring states such as Massachusetts and Connecticut, Rhode Island may look too eliminate some of the current limitations on sports betting in order to maintain control of the competitive New England gambling market.

One other form of sports betting that has been legal in Rhode Island for decades is pari-mutuel betting. Rhode Island has had several active horse and dog racing tracks operating within its state borders since the early 1900s. Pari-mutuel bets are able to be placed on site but many of the state’s racetracks and the legal gambling age for placing pari-mutuel bets in Rhode Island is 18.

Rhode Island Online Gambling Age

Online gambling in most forms is illegal in Rhode Island. While on face value Rhode Island appears to be quite liberal when it comes to gaming laws it still maintains a conservative approach when it comes to online gaming. As online casino games are not legal in Rhode Island there is no legal online gambling age.

As Rhode Island his only recently adopted table games in the state’s two commercial casinos, it doesn’t seem to be the appetite for online casino wagering. Due to the fact that the state is still so new to the commercial gaming sphere, it is unlikely that it will make online gambling legal anytime soon.

One form of online gambling that has recently been made legal in Rhode Island is online sports betting. As discussed above online sports betting, while still in its infancy, is limited in its scope and is only offered by one operator who requires that all new account holders register in person at one of the state’s two commercial casinos before they can begin playing online.

Rhode Island residents may have noticed that they had access to some offshore gambling websites that allow those above the age of 18 to participate in casino and sports betting. While these websites offer a compelling proposition for those wanting to wager online users should be wary of several things.

Firstly, as online gambling is illegal in Rhode Island those caught participating on an offshore website may be prosecuted. Secondly, the operators of these offshore websites are not registered or licensed in the US a mere 4 any player would have no recourse against them under US consumer protection laws should anything go wrong.

Those above the age of 18 who want to gamble then Rhode Island shouldn’t be disheartened by the state’s restrictive online gambling laws. There are so many forms of gaming to be enjoyed in person. For a full list of all forms of legal real money entertainment available in Rhode Island, and the legal gambling age required to participate in them, take a look at our gaming ages table at the top of this page.

Online Poker/Poker Gambling Age

As you’ve probably already guessed online poker is illegal in Rhode Island, as poker is a casino card game it falls within the ban of online casino gambling. Poker fans, however, can still enjoy in-person Poker at either of the Rhode Island’s commercial casinos. The legal gambling age for playing poker in Rhode Island is 18, the same as the casino gaming age.

It doesn’t look like online poker will be legalized within Rhode Island anytime soon, so those poker fanatics who want to play an online game should plan a trip to another US state where online poker is legal; such as Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Nevada, or Delaware.

Daily Fantasy Sports

Daily Fantasy Sports is legal in Rhode Island, the legal gambling age for participating Daily Fantasy Sports is 18 years old. once considered the state that was stuck in the past when it came to its gambling laws Rhode Island has recently established itself is one of the most progressive states when it comes to sports beating. In 2016 Rhode island’s attorney general ruled that Daily Fantasy Sports is legal.

Prior to 2016 most major Daily Fantasy Sports operators were already operating in Rhode Island, the Attorney General’s ruling that confirmed Daily Fantasy Sports legality was merely a token gesture. It is unusual that Rhode Island did not legislate for Daily Fantasy Sports legality, as this would have enabled the state to impose licensing fees and revenue taxes on the game’s operators.

For now, it appears that Rhode Island is happy with the way Daily Fantasy Sports is being run. The only potential legal change on the horizon for Daily Fantasy Sports could be if the state decides it wants to economically benefit from Daily Fantasy Sports by legislating its legality and applying licensing fees and taxes to the game’s operators.

Legal Age to Play the Lottery in Rhode Island

Rhode Island has had a state lottery in play for decades, the lottery was legalized in 1974 and the first-ever lottery draw took place in 1975. As mentioned above Rhode Island state lottery as the most powerful player within the state’s gambling economy running not only the state lottery but Rhode island’s two commercial casinos and all forms of legal sports between within the state.

The legal gambling age for participating in Rhode Island’s state lottery is 18. The lottery offers a variety of games for participants from unique local games two major multi-jurisdictional US favorites like Mega Millions and Powerball.

Rhode Island’s lottery was founded to raise money for state infrastructure, initiatives, and nonprofit institutions. Due to its incredible popularity amongst Rhode Island natives, Rhode Island state lottery has raised an incredible amount of money for the state’s general fund, at last count this was over $7 billion in donations.

Unfortunately for Rhode Island residents who enjoy gambling online, an online lottery is not yet legal in Rhode Island. Due to the incredible popularity of the current in-person lottery format the state doesn’t have any plans to legalize an online lottery anytime soon.

Rhode Island Gambling Laws & Future Outlook

Rhode Island’s gambling laws can be found within the states constitution under codes 11 and 41. It is defined in both of these codes as, ‘directly or indirectly setting up, publicly or privately, any chance, game or device for the purpose of disposing money, or assisting others in such actions’. Under this definition, all forms of legalized gambling in Rhode Island would be considered real money playing for the purposes of the governing statutes.

Rhode Island has a very healthy gambling market despite the fact there are limitations placed on most legal forms of gaming. The health of the market is most easily evident by the impact sports betting and his head on the state’s yearly gambling revenue, after sports betting was legalized the states saw a 5% jump in wagering revenue year on year.

There are taxes applied to gamble winnings in Rhode Island, like the majority of other states within the US real money gaming winnings are considered personal income, and are therefore taxed at each individuals tax rate. Some forms of gambling such as the state lottery have additional federal taxes applied to them, in the case of the state lottery every winning above $5,000 has 25% of federal taxes applied to it along with an additional state tax.

Currently, the gambling outlook for Rhode Island looks positive, it has only recently adopted commercial casino gaming and sports betting and both forms only seem to be growing in popularity year on year.

In terms of future developments for Rhode Island’s gambling laws, there are currently no active bills in front of the state legislature proposing any legal reform to the laws. The next logical step for Rhode Island would be to legalize further forms of online gambling, however, as this is still in the early stages of being rolled out across the US it may be some time before Rhode Island adopts a more liberal approach to online real money playing.

Frequently Asked Questions

We hope that this page has answered any questions you may have had regarding Rhode Island and the legality of gambling within its borders. If you have any additional questions, take a look at the answers to the most frequently asked questions below.