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A17
Saturday 30 March 2019

Sports

betting EMBIID,

revenue

projection

was $11.5M. INDEED!

So far?

$150K

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) —
Casinos in Rhode Island lost
nearly $900,000 on sports
betting in February after
winning bets for the Super
Bowl and other profession-
al sports were paid out, the
state lottery said Friday.
Gamblers have placed
a total of $53.5 million in
wagers since the late No-
vember launch of sports
betting in the state, with
$53.2 million paid on win-
ning bets, according to
the lottery's figures for bets
placed at Twin River Ca-
sino in Lincoln and Tiverton.
The state gets 51 percent
of sports betting profits, af-
ter subtracting expenses.
That leaves Rhode Island
with a profit of about
$150,000. The state had
projected it would get
$11.5 million from the new
market this fiscal year,
which ends June 30.
Many football fans went to
the casinos in January and
early February to bet on
the victorious New England
Patriots in the Super Bowl.
In February alone, gam-
blers placed about $20.7
million in wagers and the
casinos paid nearly $21.6
million on winning bets, for
a $900,000 loss.
Other states with legal
sportsbooks that launched
in the past year didn't bring
in as much in February as
they had in preceding Embiid's big night leads 76ers past Nets 123-110
months. New Jersey's phys-
ical sportsbooks had a tax
bill of negative $6,000 for
the month, but the online Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid, right, shoots over Brooklyn Nets' Rodions Kurucs, left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game,
ones brought the state $1.7 Thursday, March 28, 2019, in Philadelphia.
million. Associated Press
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