The Silver Star and Golden Moon casinos at the Pearl River Resort in Philadelphia, Mississippi, owned by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, closed due to Covid-19 in March 2020. When the venue reopened last August, the Sportsbook sports betting lounge was ready to go with soccer and baseball in the midst of their seasons, the resumption of National Basketball Association games and college football and National Football Association games on the horizon.
Sportsbook Director Chris Hopwood said, “When college football came back, followed by the NFL, we had everything going on, and that’s when everything started picking up for us. All of the customers started coming back, and it became fun again.”
Since Sportsbook opened in August 2018, it has taken in approximately two million bets, with more than $70 million paid out to bettors. “For sports betting, things did pick up very well. Our location at Bok Homa was really busy, and here it slowly started coming back because we’re more of a transient, tourist place, so we get big crowds from Louisiana and Alabama. We were a little slow to start with here, and if you watch our table games or slots, it’s still a little slow, because those customers haven’t quite come back, but for me, it’s been going full steam ahead.”
Hopwood noted the tribe has invested half a million dollars in health and safety upgrades throughout the property due to the pandemic. In the Sportsbook, plastic barriers have been installed between kiosks, hand wipes and hand sanitizer stations have been added. Also, guests and staff must have their temperature checked at the entrance.
“We’ve done almost everything we can as far as spacing goes. It does make it a little tough for us because of the spacing in the Sportsbook. We did take some of the seating out. With the amount of customers we have, you’re trying to get them through as fast as possible so we’re not too congested,” Hopwood said.
According to Choctaw Tribal Chief Cyrus Ben, the Sportsbook is one of the resort’s fastest-growing and most popular venues. “We have placed much emphasis on providing our customers with an array of opportunities to play, whether onsite, at a Sportsbook kiosk or on a mobile app. We have a great team leading the operations and continually looking for new ways to improve and offer more features for our gamers.” Ben added next month the mobile application will offer “major feature upgrades that will almost double our current betting option for our sports-minded clientele.”
Hopwood said team members at the Sportsbook enjoy showing novices how to place sports wagers. “We’re willing to help and teach people how to bet. We want people to come, learn and have fun with sports betting.”
