AP: Payout for States With Legal Sports Betting Falls Short of Expectations

Rhode Island, West Virginia, Mississippi and Pennsylvania all missed their tax revenue marks.

Super Bowl odds at a sports book. (ReaClearLife)
Super Bowl odds at a sports book. (ReaClearLife)

Though residents were happy when the Patriots won the Super Bowl, Rhode Island tax collectors were far from pleased as the state’s recently legalized sportsbooks lost $2.35 million when New England beat Los Angeles.

While they don’t all owe it to Tom Brady and the Pats covering the spread in victory, most of the states which legalized sports gambling the way Rhode Island did have had difficulty bringing in the payoff they were expecting generate in tax revenue.

Rhode Island specifically had expected to generate more than $1 million a month for its state budget by taxing sportsbook proceeds at a rate of 51%. That goal was lofty indeed as the state has fallen far short of that mark and is only bringing in about $50,000 a month in revenue from taxing gambling.

“We knew it was going to be very up and down,” said state Gov. Gina Raimondo. “That is not at all a surprise.”

Similar to what has happened in Rhode Island, West Virginia is taking in just a quarter of the monthly tax revenue it had projected while Mississippi and Pennsylvania are only bringing in about half of what they had estimated.

On the other hand, New Jersey and Delaware – the other states to push through legalized sports betting following the Supreme Court’s decision – were able to meet their revenue projections.

 

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