Losing Ticket Allows Lawsuit Against Rhode Island Sports Betting To Proceed

A losing ticket was all the evidence that a Rhode Island Superior Court judge needed to allow a physician and former Providence GOP Mayoral candidate to continue with a lawsuit against legal sports betting.

Dr. Daniel Harrop filed a lawsuit last spring against the state’s Division of Lotteries and Department of Administration. Harrop’s legal team argued that sports betting was unconstitutional because the state passed it through bills in the legislature and not through a ballot initiative, voted on by the citizens.

The state’s rebuttal was that sports betting was part of a larger gambling initiative passed years ago when the state legalized table games. Once the Supreme Court overturned PASPA, legislators felt they no longer needed to have citizens make the final decision.

The suit was originally dismissed when a judge said that Harrop was not harmed by legalized sports betting.

Until last week, when Harrop introduced a losing sports ticket from a Patriots game. The amount of money wagered on the game was not released and neither was which game Harrop bet on, but according to local media outlets, Judge Brian Stern felt the losing wager was enough evidence to prove harm.

The ticket allowed the case to be reopened after it was amended to cite the loss as grounds for the standing. Lawyers for the lottery and Twin River Casino are making the case that Harrop isn’t harmed by sports betting, regardless of the outcome of a single bet.

Several other states have passed sports betting legislation at the ballot box with Colorado becoming the latest after narrowly passing the amendment in November.

Rhode Island was the first New England state to offer sports betting at the end of last year. The state was projected to generate $22.7 million in revenue from sports betting this fiscal year but is on pace to fall short of projections.

Initially, Rhode Island only offered brick-and-mortar sports betting but passed mobile legislation after poor revenue numbers made it clear the market needed other avenues for gamblers to bet. Rhode Island’s mobile market launched in September.

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