Rhode Island Senate President Dominick Ruggerio is a strong advocate for allowing casinos to extend credit to high rollers in the state. (Image: Stephan Savoia/Associated Press/Alamy)

Bally’s is asking Rhode Island lawmakers to double that amount of money it can loan to high-limit players at the two casinos it operates in the state, a move it says will help it better compete with casinos in neighboring states.

Currently, Bally’s can allow customers to gamble on credit of up to $50,000. A new bill would increase that limit to $100,000.

Massachusetts, Connecticut Casinos Offer More Credit to Gamblers

That increase wouldn’t put the Rhode Island casinos on par with their neighbors. In Massachusetts, there is no credit limit for casinos, while land-based and Connecticut online casinos are tribal-run, and can determine how much credit they wish to offer for themselves. 

However, a Bally’s spokesperson says that the move would still make them more competitive in the New England casino marketplace.

“We want to make sure that, as the operator of the two casinos for the state of Rhode Island, we’re doing everything that we can to be regionally competitive,” Bally’s representative Elizabeth Suever said to Rhode Island’s Senate Committee on Special Legislation last week. “By that I mean competitive with those casinos that are in Connecticut, which are some of the largest casinos in the United States, and Massachusetts.”

According to Suever, the credit limit would only be available for in-person players, not for online casino gamblers. She told lawmakers that the increased credit lines would be “an amenity for our players that play very high limits because they don’t want to be carrying that amount of cash on their person as they’re coming and going from the casino.”

The bill has the backing of Senate President Dominick Ruggerio (D-Providence). Supporters have pointed out that the two Bally’s casinos in Lincoln and Tiverton are the third-largest source of income for the state budget, with an estimated $428.8 million in gambling revenue budgeted to the state treasury this year. But revenue from table games – often favored by high rollers – is down 8.2 percent year-over-year at Tiverton, and down 3.2 percent at Lincoln. 

Lawmakers Raise Questions Over Bill’s Language

The Rhode Island State House will have a hearing on the bill this Thursday. Ruggerio allowed the bill to be introduced to the State Senate more than two months after the normal deadline for doing so, with a spokesperson for Ruggerio saying that it was done so at “the request of Bally’s.”

However, there have been questions asked about why the bill is moving so quickly, and what exactly it will allow Bally’s to do in the future. The Providence Journal reported that multiple senators were surprised by the lack of delineation for the new language the bill would create. 

The same legislators were also concerned about a version of the bill that would allow Rhode Island’s Department of Business Regulation the ability to change the state’s operating agreement with Bally’s without legislative approval. While Suever said that this is technically something that doesn’t require legislative approval to change, the Providence Journal reported that some senators remained unconvinced.

While Bally’s still operates the two Rhode Island casinos – the Twin River Lincoln and Tiverton Casino Hotel, it no longer owns the properties. In June 2022, Bally’s agreed to sell the two facilities to Gaming and Leisure Properties for $1 billion. Bally’s then immediately leased back the properties, and still owns and controls the gaming operators at both sites.