Here's What RI Does With $18,245,730 In Sports Gambling Tax Windfall

Legal sports gambling has resulted in a significant tax windfall for Rhode Island's treasury, according to recent data.

Rhode Island is one of 40, along with the District of Columbia, that has adopted some sort of legalized sports gambling since the 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act.

Since then, the national state sales tax revenue from sports betting soared 382%, from $190 million in the third quarter of 2021, when data collection began, to $917 million in the most recent 2025 data available, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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States have varying tax rates on sportsbook revenues, ranging from 6.75% in Iowa and Nevada to 51% in New Hampshire, New York and Rhode Island. Typically, the higher the rate, the larger the portion of a state’s total tax revenue that comes from sports betting.

In the calendar year 2024, online sports betting added $18,245,730 in tax revenue to Rhode Island coffers, according to the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax policy think tank.

In general, states use sportsbook revenue to help fund public schools, road improvements, law enforcement, gambling addiction treatment or other dedicated uses.

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In Rhode Island, net revenue is transferred to the State General Fund. The state legislature then appropriates money from the fund to state programs and the 39 cities and towns.

Top Sports Betting Day Coming Up

Super Bowl Sunday, this year on Feb. 8, is the busiest day of the year for sports bets, and the NFL is the most wagered-on sports league in the United States.

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The fourth quarter of one calendar year and the first quarter of the next are the busiest times for sports betting, with other popular sporting events such as the MLB playoffs and World Series and the start of the NBA and NHL seasons, and the March Madness college basketball tournament.

In the first quarter of 2025, $6,880,000 of Rhode Island’s total tax intake of $1,173,494,000 came from sportsbooks and parimutuel gambling, according to Census Bureau data.

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In Q2 2025, the top 10 states where sports betting makes up a big share of total tax revenue are, respectively, New York, New Hampshire, Wyoming, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, Louisiana, Maryland, Rhode Island and Nevada, according to data.

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