GOP and Senate President Ruggerio Spar Over Legality of Sports Betting in RI

Friday, March 08, 2019

 

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Sports Betting at Twin River

State GOP leaders are alleging that Rhode Island’s adoption of sports betting is unlawful.

"The General Assembly has been moving quickly to approve legislation which will allow an expansion of gambling in the form of online sports betting without voter approval as required by the Rhode Island State Constitution in Article 6, Section 22. This follows the unlawful institution of sports betting at the two state-operated casinos in Newport and Tiverton without voter approval," said GOP Chairman Brandon Bell. "Simply, it was never on the ballot."

Bell is claiming, “The General Assembly has spent weeks talking about putting federal abortion rights into state law. But, during that same time, the General Assembly has refused to follow our State Constitution by seeking voter approval before expanding gambling in the form of sports gambling, and now online sports gambling. If the General Assembly wants to talk about constitutional rights, why don’t they start by following our State Constitution?"

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"We have consulted the leading expert on Rhode Island’s constitutional voter rights requirement for new types of gambling, Joseph S. Larisa, Jr., who agrees that 'the people, not the politicians have the final say before any expansion of gambling is lawful,'" said Bell.

But Senate President Dominick Ruggerio is firing back at the Republicans.

“I am surprised that the chairman of a party that claims to support lower taxes and greater individual liberties would challenge the sports wagering law. Sports gaming has been a very popular entertainment option that many Rhode Islanders, as well as visitors from out of state, have embraced,” said Ruggerio.

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Senate President Ruggerio

“The revenue from sports wagering supports critical state services, like road and bridge repairs, education and human services, while offsetting reliance on taxes. The timing of this stunt is very curious, as it has been almost a year since sports wagering was enacted into law. All of the legal advice I have seen has been consistent that voters approved sports betting when they approved casino gaming, and I am very confident that the state would prevail in any challenge,” Ruggerio added.

Lawsuit Coming?

GOP’s outgoing chairman Bell is threatening a lawsuit.

“We are actively looking at a lawsuit to protect the constitutional right of Rhode Islanders to approve or disapprove by referendum whether or not they want the new type of gambling in the form of sports betting in person and online in our state. Voters could not have approved of sports gambling in 2012 and 2016 when it voted for casino gambling, because sports gambling was illegal at that time in Rhode Island,” said Bell

“The General Assembly can go ahead and try to ignore the right to life for the unborn by expanding abortion rights under state law, but they won’t be able to ignore a lawsuit to enforce our state constitutional right to vote on an expansion of gambling. The General Assembly may not care about how strongly people feel about the rights of the unborn but we know how strongly the General Assembly feels about getting more money for the budget,” added Bell.

Governor Gina Raimondo had budgeted that sports betting would generate $23.5 million in state revenue. The gambling initiative began months late and has only generated a fraction of the expected revenue.

 

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