The first legal sports bets were placed in New Mexico at the Santa Ana Star Casino Hotel this month, and the book got off to a slow start by losing in its first week of operation.
Vic Salerno, president of Las Vegas-based USBookmaking, which is operating the sports book on behalf of the Pueblo Santa Ana, said the loss wasn’t a large one. Salerno acknowledged it’s never a bad thing when bettors get a taste of winning the first time out. The sports book opened Oct. 16 at the tribal casino north of Albuquerque.
“We lost like most people did this past week,” said Salerno who appeared Thursday at a UNLV conference on sports betting. “That shows we’re easy, and people will come back. I love it. If they lost, they might never come back.”
Salerno, one of Las Vegas’ longtime bookmakers, operated the Leroy’s sportsbook brand, starting with a small, smoky location in downtown Las Vegas. Under Leroy’s, Salerno and his team operated 125 sports books in Nevada. The company was sold to William Hill US in 2012. Salerno was a 2015 inductee into the Gaming Hall of Fame.
He established USBookmaking to offer daily fantasy sports under Nevada sports betting regulations. The company operates the sportsbook for Baldini’s Casino near Reno.
New Mexico became the sixth state with legal sports betting and the fifth to launch the activity since the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in May that allowed states to regulate sports betting. New Mexico joined Nevada, Delaware, New Jersey, Mississippi and West Virginia.
The tribe is operating the sports book through its state compact and under its right as a sovereign nation. The New Mexico Attorney General is monitoring the activity but didn’t move to halt the operation. Mobile sports wagering is not allowed.
Salerno declined to give the amount of the loss or talk about Santa Ana Star’s wagering totals, saying that falls to the tribe which bankrolls the sports book. His company sets the odds, manages the risk and runs the back-end computer system.
“There were thousands of people that were making wagers,” Salerno said. “It was beyond my expectations and were busy from the day we started. They don’t want (the amount of handle) out there now. They have a competitive edge, and don’t want to let everybody know.”
Salerno said the handle “was very good and more than I projected.” As for the loss, he said it wasn’t large.
“It’s a big casino, and it’s not a big loss for them,” Salerno said. “They probably lose that on a couple of blackjack hands.”
People bet on the NFL, Major League Baseball, the NBA and college sports, with the exception of teams from New Mexico’s universities, at this time.
While the Dallas Cowboys are a popular NFL bet in New Mexico, Salerno said more action was placed on the Washington Redskins last week. Washington’s win cost the book. The casino also lost on Kansas City’s dominate victory over Cincinnati and other favorites.
“Kansas City was a bad one for us,” Salerno said. “People are betting Kansas City every week. They were also betting against teams that are really bad, and that does it too.”
Besides the Cowboys, the Denver Broncos and college teams in Colorado and Texas are popular bets, Salerno said.
“The customers, to my surprise, were very educated on how to make sports wagers,” Salerno said. “It went very smoothly. The interest is there.”
The tribe provided workers that were trained by USBookmaking, and “everything operated smoothly,” Salerno said. He compared the casino to Sunset Station in Las Vegas, and he mentioned one bettor who drove two hours to the Santa Ana Star, rather than the six hours he normally drives to Laughlin in Southern Nevada to place sports wagers.
Salerno said he’s not upset about the slow start, and that it’s not bad thing when a gambler wins in the beginning.
“I have always said when someone turns 21, Las Vegas should pay for their trip here and guarantee they win,” Salerno said. “They will always come back. If they come out here the first time and lose, you might not see them again.”
