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The Book Club DraftKings Sportsbook, Resorts Atlantic City
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Sportsbooks are the new hot item in casinos, so how do you design a sportsbook that competes, but also complements your app? >> By Dave Bontempo
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here are places in the United States where one can judge a book by its cover. And its parlays, teases, odds boosts and bonuses that eliminate the vig. Welcome to the sports-betting surge, a sizzling commodity encompassing roughly half the country. States race to legalize and prioritize this market niche, mimicking the sprawling surge of gaming itself 30 years ago. The books themselves are not colossal profit centers. But the combined effect of books with bars, gamblers with apps and big-screen sports glorification creates an industry winner. A venue can be tailored to its gambling audience. Big wagers can originate from a small geographic area or a massive open-air room. Operators consider the upside limitless and the downside limited. Casino Style canvassed leading designers and architects regarding the impact of sports betting on their projects.
Planning for the Mobile Entry “As the industry continues to embrace the activity in creative ways other than just betting online, we’ll see some very innovative applications at casinos,” says HBG Design principal Dike Bacon. “Who knows? A new-generation 34 CASINO STYLE 2020
sports betting customer could be a new customer that the casino doesn’t currently have.” Bacon believes the package of mobile and brick-and-mortar components can be lucrative for operators. “Many industry observers think another 15-20 states may pass legislation in 2021, so it’s clearly a rapidly emerging national trend to be capitalized upon,” he says. “What Penn National, Rush Street, and a number of Indian gaming tribes are doing are diverse examples. “If mobile sports betting is allowed, how can casinos take advantage beyond a traditional sportsbook area? Mobile sports betting at a brickand-mortar facility has the potential to be a social or party-type event (post-Covid, of course) which could be a great opportunity to drive revenue across a lot of other amenity platforms.” There can be great opportunities to connect land-based premises with online accounts and be able to directly interact with the casino and the various amenities those facilities offer, Bacon asserts. This could create an entertainment experience that is beyond just one physical area like the sportsbooks of old. It could become facility-wide. “As an example, on-site betting could drive higher-profit F&B sales