Rush Street Interactive, through its BetRivers platform, recently supplanted 888 Holdings as Delaware’s lone iGaming operator and its debut in January broke records for The First State.
BetRivers Takes Control
888 Holdings won the initial bid to run Delaware’s iGaming operations back in 2013 as the state was able to do so despite PASPA not being repealed until 2018. However, it was not necessarily a glorious run and the company withdrew itself from consideration when its 10-year contract expired in 2023.
Rush Street Interactive (RSI) decided to toss its hat in the ring and was the only iGaming provider to do so. The company came to terms with the Delaware Lottery in August to run its iGaming platform and mobile sportsbook.
“Rush Street Interactive has established itself as a leading innovator in the industry, and is a respected iGaming and sports betting company,” Helene Keeley, director of the Delaware Lottery, said in an August press release. “We are impressed not only with RSI’s successes in other jurisdictions, including neighboring New Jersey and Pennsylvania but also its strong commitment to responsible gambling practices.”
RSI signed a five-year agreement and a series of one-year terms thereafter for a maximum of five additional years to provide online gaming services under its BetRivers brand. The soft launch of its new-to-market virtual casino kicked off in the last week of December with the official opening beginning on January 3rd.
Cash Flows From BetRivers
The numbers have recently been released and it is apparent that Delawareans like what they see. BetRivers generated a $103.4 million handle in January with digital slot play accounting for $52.6 million while virtual table games contributed $50.7 million.
That might not seem like much compared to bigger US states but it is an impressive debut month considering that the handle in the first 29 days of the BetRivers launch was over 36% of what 888 Casino did in all of 2023 with a yearly handle of $287 million.
The voluminous handle generated a state record of $3.8 million in gross revenues and adjusted gross revenues of $3.4 million. BetRivers shattered the previous mark of $1.4 million set in March 2023 with more than double the revenues.
The first week portended an outstanding month as noted by Lottery Director Keeley when she said, “We launched last Wednesday so not quite a full week but for the iGaming we had about 16.6 million wagers, and in the sports, we had about almost 2 million wagered.”
Although Delaware was the first to launch retail sports after PASPA was overturned in 2018, the launch of online sports betting didn’t happen until January 3, 2024, when Delaware became the 29th state to offer online sports betting.
“We’re excited to finally be able to have the citizens of Delaware be able to place a sports bet on their phone if they so choose, and also we’re actually even more excited that the iGaming is part of the product as well,” said Keeley.
