Though it is less than 18 months old, changes are coming to the Caesars Sportsbook at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
When the sportsbook made its debut in May 2021, it was the first sports betting facility inside a U.S. sports arena. At the time, it was considered revolutionary to have legal sports wagering inside the home of the NHL’s Washington Capitals and NBA’s Washington Wizards.
Now officials at Caesars want to improve upon what they have built.
“When you’re the first to do something, you’re not quite sure what to do, so you learn and you grow,” David Grolman, Caesars Sportsbook’s senior vice president and chief retail sportsbook officer, told Sports Handle. “What we learned was that the sports betting piece was so popular that it made it a little bit difficult for folks to come in for the dining experience because we had lines of people wagering.”
The facility originally offered seven betting kiosks, but has added 13 more to the 2-story, nearly 20,0000-square-foot lounge.
One of the biggest additions is a new restaurant from noted chef and television personality, Guy Fieri. Guy Fieri’s D.C. Kitchen + Bar opened this week, just in time for the start of the NHL and NBA season.
The menu features burgers, wings, and his signature dish, trash-can nachos, which are tortilla chips covered in pickled onions, jalapeños, melted cheese, pickled onions, beans, sour cream, BBQ sauce, pico and pork.
Monumental Sports & Entertainment owns the arena and Jeff Van Stone, president of business operations and chief commercial officer, was instrumental in the concept of the sportsbook and restaurant.
“For us, it really has become a great destination spot, and I think now, the restaurant concept with Guy is really going to take it to a new level,” Van Stone told Sports Handle.
Van Stone told Sports Handle his vision for the lounge was a destination spot that customers could use when the arena was open for other events than when the Capitals and Wizards were playing.
“We wanted people to come two, three hours early before an event and game and stay for a couple hours afterward, and I think we’ve accomplished that,” Van Stone said.
