Sports betting to begin at 2nd casino in Rhode Island

Sports betting is coming to a second Rhode Island casino.

Twin River Casino announced Friday that sports betting will launch at its Tiverton location Monday.

Twin River began offering sports betting at its Lincoln location this week. It was the first New England casino to accept bets on professional sports.

Rhode Island moved quickly to legalize sports betting after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal law this year that made most sports gambling illegal.

Twin River Casino's two locations are the only places where bets will be accepted, for now, and bets must be placed in person. The state plans to explore ways to expand sports betting.

So far, seven states offer legal sports betting: Nevada, New Jersey, Delaware, West Virginia, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. New Mexico hasn't passed a sports betting law, but a casino there recently started taking sports bets through a tribal gambling compact. Other states are considering legalizing it.

Rhode Island's legislative leaders believe sports betting will be an important revenue generator. Rhode Island will get 51 percent of the revenue from sports betting. The vendor will get 32 percent, and the casino will get 17 percent.

Democratic Senate President Dominick Ruggerio is working on a bill to allow people to place bets from anywhere in Rhode Island. He plans to introduce it when the new legislative session begins in January.

Twin River has planned an event at 3 p.m. Monday at the Tiverton Casino Hotel for the launch. Tiverton is close to the state line with Massachusetts.