Technically speaking, online poker became legal in Rhode Island alongside online casino gaming, but the odds of it becoming a reality are effectively zero under the current law. Much of the discussion about Rhode Island online poker has focused on its small population and the need for traffic sharing to make poker economically feasible. However, there’s a more fundamental problem. Online table games in Rhode Island will be live dealer only, and live dealer poker doesn’t currently exist.
Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee signed the state’s new iGaming law on June 20. However, it wasn’t the same bill that Senator Dominick J. Ruggerio originally introduced. House legislators made a set of amendments to the bill on June 15 before passing it.
These included changing the definition of “online table games” to resolve a constitutional issue raised in May by Republican Senator Elaine J. Morgan.
The amended bill removed language allowing for random number generation (RNG) for table games . Meanwhile, it added the phrase “where such games are conducted by one or more live persons.”
That is to say, in the final bill, RNGs are only permitted for slots, while anything categorized as a table game requires a live dealer. Although it mentions poker among the allowable casino games, the need for a live dealer will make it impossible to launch an online poker product in practice.
The one ray of hope for Rhode Island online poker is that lawmakers could try adding RNG table games at a later date. That would require new legislation, however. Why ‘Live Dealer Poker’ is a Non-Starter
The live dealer requirement presents a multi-layered obstacle to hypothetical online poker in Rhode Island.
Firstly, Rhode Island has created a monopoly market where the sole online casino operator will be a partnership between the state lottery, Bally’s, and IGT. None of these entities has either live dealer capabilities or an online poker product.
Presumably, they intend to offer some live dealer products , such as blackjack and roulette. IGT might attempt to develop that technology in-house as it would also be helpful in other markets. Among other things, it would […]
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