Top Trending: Rhode Island Sports Betting App Crashes First Week of 2025 NFL

One of the first - and arguably one of the most troubled - of the U.S. regulated sports betting apps took quite a beating to open the 2025 NFL season.  Scroll down for all of the current top stories as well as those trending on Gambling911. 

Countless Rhode Island sports fans were left highly frustrated after the state’s only legal sportsbook app crashed just before kickoff.

Sure we remember those early days well with the offshore sportsbooks having visited what was in 2000 and 2001 the largest of the gambling sites, BetOnSports. Both years, the minutes leading up to kickoff everything seemed to crash, including the massive 100-plus person phone banks. 

Perhaps Rhode Island will get its act together. But the state has been online since 2018 and the issues persist. 

Sportsbook Rhode Island, operated by IGT and Bally’s through a 20-year exclusive contract with the state lottery, froze and crashed for users across the state on Sunday afternoon. Bettors reported being unable to log in or place wagers as the 1 p.m. games kicked off.

And it's not as if customers were logging into several pages at once seeking an extensive listing of game and player props.

Unlike neighboring Massachusetts, where several national operators compete for customers, Rhode Island’s system allows only a single platform. With no alternatives, residents were effectively locked out of betting during one of the busiest sports days of the year.

Some fans joked about driving over the border to use DraftKings or FanDuel in Massachusetts, while others simply gave up.

Bars and living rooms across the state echoed the same complaints: there was no way to get a bet in, unless of course you happened to have an offshore betting account or were using a local bookie. The offshore sites seem to have gotten their act together over the last two decades, investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in upgraded infastructure. 

The outage reignites debate over Rhode Island’s sports betting structure. Earlier this year, a Senate bill to expand the market and allow multiple operators advanced but stalled in the House. Supporters of the measure argued that competition would prevent situations like Sunday’s, where one app’s failure shut down the entire market.

Service was restored later in the afternoon (after the games had concluded, which doesn't exactly help gamblers).

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- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher