Boomer’s Sportsbook and Caesars Entertainment each opened new sportsbooks in Nevada last week and are poised to open more in the coming weeks, including one that will target Idaho residents. At its February 11 meeting, the Nevada Gaming Control Board also brought up prediction market operators, which are not licensed by the state, and are thought to have been used for Super Bowl wagers that were not placed with licensed books, contributing to the state’s the lowest handle for the NFL’s big event in the past decade.
Boomer’s opened its first Reno sportsbook Friday at the Bonanza Casino, replacing one operated by William Hill.
Caesars Sportsbook extended its reach to the west Las Vegas valley by opening a sportsbook last week at The Resort at Summerlin. It replaces an operation linked to the South Point Casino.
The Board granted Boomers and Caesars, through Caesars’ William Hill brand in Nevada, tentative approval to open additional sportsbooks in the state. The Nevada Gaming Commission has the final say later this month.
Boomer’s will operate at the Grand Lodge Casino at Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe in Incline Village, Stockman’s Casino in Fallon, and Club Fortune in North Las Vegas.
William Hill will operate at Barton’s Club 93 in Jackpot in the north of the state on the Idaho line.
With the addition of the three new properties seeking approval, Boomer’s will operate 10 sportsbooks since launching in August as the state’s only independent operator. There are plans to return before gaming regulators in April for two more licenses to operate sportsbooks. A 13th is expected to open this summer.
“This would be our first sportsbook in the Lake Tahoe area and a premier property in Incline Village and a great place to be,” said Boomer’s CEO Joe Asher.
It will be a staffed location with a betting kiosk adjacent to the counter. It will open March 1st after William Hill departs the property.
“There will be some construction work on the counter and a freshening of the area,” Asher said.
Asher told the Board the sportsbook is still offering a $250 mobile sign up, and claimed they offer better pricing than competitors.
Since opening its first sportsbook in Elko, Asher told regulators, “big picture, it’s going reasonably well, brick-by-brick and customer-by-customer, and I’m really happy with the progress we are making. I feel like we’re starting to get a little bit of momentum. With these new applications and ones pending with the Board certainly prove their appetite in the market. We just signed another contract, and we haven’t filed that with the Board yet and hopefully will soon. We look forward to continuing to build the business.”
Clarity Game Nevada operates the Stockman’s Casino, and its plans call for Boomer’s to have a kiosk-only sportsbook. Asher is a small owner in the property and said he has seen first hand the work that has been put into the casino. The sportsbook will open on May 1st after William Hill departs.
“Getting Boomer’s into as many of these smaller communities in Nevada as we can in addition to the Las Vegas and Reno area has been part of the business plan from the start,” Asher said.
Fallon is a military-oriented community with a naval air station. Asher said William Hill has 100% off the market, and their plan is to “chip into that.”
Clarity Game completed its acquisition of Stockman’s Casino in April from Full House Resorts. It has been a mainstay in downtown Fallon since its opening in 1955. The city has about 25,000.
Clarity Game is run by David Ross and Michael Gaughan III, Nevada natives with extensive experience in gaming, having served in senior management for Coast Casinos, Affinity Gaming and the Resort at Summerlin.
Asher said the sportsbook at Club Fortune will begin whenever the property reopens in April. There will be three full-time employees staffing the operation.
William Hill will be Barton Club’s first sportsbook, and it will have two kiosks. Dan Shapiro, senior vice president and chief development officer for Caesars Digital, said they are excited about the opportunity and plan a March 4th installation of the kiosks ahead of the NCAA basketball tournament.
“Jackpot is a border town so we’re excited, with no legal sports betting in Idaho, and we’re expecting folks to come down and bet with the kiosks there,” Shapiro said. “It’s a nice retail opportunity for us and not so much mobile to bring folks down from Idaho.”
Christian Goode, the majority owner managing member of GLM Gaming that owns Barton’s Club 93, said they took over the property a year ago and have ongoing changes at the casino. “This is just another step in our iteration and evolution,” Goode said. “We are super excited to add another amenity.”
“The opportunity is tremendous,” Goode said. “This is a true amenity they can’t get (in Idaho) and gives them another reason to come to Jackpot.”
Over the last year, Goode said they’ve retooled the gaming floor and renovated the hotel rooms and restaurants. They added a Starbucks. They are also doing more digital advertising in Boise and other areas of Idaho.
Shapiro said they had interest in putting in a sportsbook at the property for several years under the previous ownership.
“We’re excited about it,” Shapiro said. “We think they serve a different clientele than the property we are in across the street.”
As for why Nevada the betting handle for the Super Bowl was the lowest in the past decade, Shapiro said that was expected because the matchup and star power weren’t there between Seattle and New England compared to recent years.
“We were pleased overall,” Shapiro said. “It wasn’t the best result with the Seahawks winning.”
Shapiro addressed a question from Board member George Assad on the impact of prediction markets on handle.
“There could be a lot of factors in there, but if you look at prediction markets you can’t say it was zero based on the advertising I see in the state,” Shapiro said. “It’s hard to say what was the true cause.”
