Joe Asher knew he couldn’t remain on the sidelines when it came to bookmaking. His desire to launch another independent sportsbook was too strong and the encouragement from investors to recreate his Brandywine Bookmaking that he started in 2007 was too great to pass up. He sold Brandywine to British bookmaker William Hill in 2012, then took on the role of CEO until it was sold to Caesars Entertainment in 2021. Six months later, Asher became president of sports betting at IGT, a position he left in June 2024.
His desire is on track to be fulfilled in early August, once the Nevada Gaming Commission presumably heeds the recommendation of the Gaming Control Board and approves Asher’s new Boomer’s Sportsbook. Then, sports bettors in Las Vegas and northern Nevada will have another option — the only sportsbook not operated by a casino company.
“Not long after I left William Hill after the Caesars sale, every few months somebody would give me a call and say something to the effect of, it’s not the same since Caesars bought William Hill. They’d ask what their choices were for a sportsbook operator,” Asher said in an interview with CDC Gaming.
Asher said he needed a break after the William Hill sale because he’d been going hard in the sports betting industry for years. He went to IGT only with the urging of former CEO Enrico Drago to help “straighten out” their sports betting business.
“It was never intended to be a super-long thing,” Asher said. “When I left, Enrico was moving back to Italy and Joe Bertolone (vice president of sports betting at IGT) was up to speed. By that time, I was starting to think about getting back into the business as an operator. Last summer, I started to get more focused. I thought there was an opportunity in the marketplace for an independent sportsbook, which there wasn’t since Caesars acquired William Hill.”
Asher is a big fan of the Elko County Fair horseraces in August and was up there last summer. He asked around if anyone knew of a gaming license that might be available and learned that the Commercial Casino in Elko had an unused license.
Sportsbooks must have a non-restricted gaming license to operate in Nevada, one reason why FanDuel and DraftKings don’t operate in the state. Brandywine had its gaming license in Elko at the High Desert Inn when Asher launched the company. “The available license at the Commercial was a great find.”
Boomer’s is leasing space in the casino, where there will be a counter and some televisions when it opens Aug. 1.
A few days later near the Las Vegas Strip corridor, Boomer’s will open at the Ellis Island Casino Hotel; construction is underway for a new sportsbook expected to open by Labor Day. It will be part of a bar and restaurant concept.
“It’s a big hangout to watch the games,” Asher said. “The current sportsbook is a small counter in the older portion of the premises. There’s a lot of construction going on in the new area.”
Also in early August, Boomer’s will open at the Casino Valle Verde in Henderson. That property, along with Ellis Island, are owned by Gary Ellis, who currently has agreements with William Hill.
“The plans are also to do a significant remodel of the property this fall,” Asher said.
For the sake of confidentiality, Asher won’t disclose the investors behind his new sportsbook operation. “The other investors are various friends of mine, some of whom were investors in Brandywine back in the day.” And without giving a specific number, he said the investment is in the “double-digit millions. It’s very well capitalized. It wasn’t very hard raising money. Some people heard about it and reached out to me. That was very flattering. When the news came out about it, other people said, ‘Why didn’t you ask me?’ I’m very fortunate.”
His team includes veteran Nick Bogdanovich, who will serve as head of trading and set the lines. He’s one of the best known bookmakers in Las Vegas, where he worked at Binion’s, Mandalay Bay, and William Hill. He most recently worked at Circa Sports. “Nick has had a storied career and is known to bettors of all shapes and sizes.”
Asher said the sportsbook is possible only because of Nevada’s in-person signup requirement for placing bets via mobile wagering.
Casinos can either run their own sportsbooks using IGT’s or others’ technology or they can partner with someone to run the operation for those who don’t want to run it themselves, Asher said.
“That was one of the attractions of William Hill when I was there. We were independent and not affiliated with any casino,” Asher said. “Casino operators don’t have to be concerned about another casino operator inside their building. Some people prefer not to have that. That’s one of the attractions of taking in an operator like Boomer’s — partnering with casinos to jointly work to get people to come in, bet on sports, and sign up for their mobile accounts.”
For bettors, another sportsbook gives them an option when it comes to shopping for lines. Asher has four sports betting apps on his phone. In Elko, there’s only one sportsbook and no competition.
“We intend to have a pretty good sign-up offer when we open and we’re working on some promotions we think will be attractive to folks when we get into football season,” Asher said. “There’s good operators in Las Vegas and it’s a very competitive market. We’re coming into a mature market and have a lot of work to do, but I think there’s space for us. I’m very focused on competitive pricing and offering good value to customers. At the end of the day, it’s a for-profit enterprise, so we want to make money, of course, but there’s a way to do that while giving customers good value.”
The “bread-and-butter” of the customer base Asher is seeking consists of “regular folks who want to bet on sports. It’s the average guy who wants to bet his $20, $50, or $100 and have action on the game. It makes it more fun to watch when you have a little money on the game.”
Boomer’s betting limits will be similar to other sportsbooks and will have a broad-based betting menu to reflect what’s been happening in the industry, such as expanded in-game and parlay wagers.
Trading margins have been higher outside of Nevada, led by FanDuel and DraftKings. Asher said that William Hill and Caesars have been working to expand their margins as well.
“It’s lower in Nevada and that gets to the point of competitive pricing. It doesn’t mean you have to be the most aggressive and lowest-margin operator, but I have the view that if you offer the product at a fair price, you’ll do well. Would you rather have a 10% margin on $1 million in handle or 7% margin on $2 million in handle?”
A reasonable margin, according to Asher, is in the 7% to 8% range. He said the expansion of parlays and in-game betting that has proliferated along with mobile wagering have increased margins.
Asher would like Boomer’s to have 10 operators within a year and 25 to 30 in total. He has no plans to expand out of state.
“We want a bunch in the Las Vegas area and some places in Reno, given the populations. We want a place in Carson City. It’s all predicated on the in-person signup requirements. I wouldn’t be doing this business if not for that. It gives the opportunity to partner with casinos and build out this statewide network.”
“William Hill is the 800-pound gorilla in the state of Nevada. Caesars continued to build on it after I left. Little Boomer’s won’t slay the 800-pound gorilla, but maybe we can help them lose a few pounds.”
“I think having 10 within a year is being conservative, because the response has been pretty strong,” Asher said. “Another application is signed and going through the licensing process and we expect it to be on the Gaming Control Board’s agenda in September. We’re filing our license applications for others imminently. There’s a lot of appetite from casino owners to do something with us. We’re a well-known team. We have old-band members critical to building the business and some fresh faces to bring in new perspectives.”
Other Boomer’s staff include Dave Grolman, senior vice president of Sports Book and Customer Support Operations; Debinique Watts-Blackburn, senior vice president of Human Resources; Shawn Odell, controller; Gina Cervone, vice president of Legal & Compliance; Andrew Patterson, vice president of Mobile; Desirae Reid, director of marketing; Adam Pullen, deputy director of Trading; Dave Lichterman, director of Sports Book & Customer Support Operations; A.G. Burnett, chairman of the Compliance Committee; and Scott Scherer, gaming attorney.
Asher won’t a focus on television advertising, instead microtargeting casino partners’ players. Each location will be handled differently. “I’ve always liked billboards and sports talk radio. We’ll market to our casino partners’ databases and make it attractive for them to sign up.”
For now, there’s a lot of work behind setting up a business from scratch. Just getting a bank account opened for a new gambling company offering mobile wagering is difficult, Asher said.
“It’s a lot of work to start up a new business. In addition to getting the state gaming license, you need the local licenses and that takes quite a bit of time. Raising the money was easy, but you still have to do all the paperwork, find an office, and go through all the procedures. We have a nice space in Las Vegas and I feel great where we are. That’s one of the great things about America that you can have an idea, then go out and start a business. At the end of the day, it will be up to customers to decide whether they like our product or not.”
