West Virginia’s five casinos are busy creating areas for their new sports books which they hope will be operating by Labor Day weekend. State lawmakers passed a law legalizing sports betting in the last legislative session, anticipating the U.S. Supreme Court’s May ruling lifting the federal ban on sports betting.
West Virginia Gaming and Racing Association President John Cavacini noted, “Quite frankly, this is not a big moneymaker for the facilities but there is more excitement and more calls on this issue than any issue I’ve been involved with, and that includes slot machines and table games.”
Cavacini noted with the exception of Pennsylvania, none of West Virginia’s neighboring states have legalized sports betting. And Pennsylvania passed a 36 percent tax rate and a $10 million license fee which will be passed along to bettors. “We’re going to have the rest of this year and all of next year for this on our own before the competition hits. Our lawmakers had the foresight to look ahead and allow us to get ready this year,” he said.
State Lottery Director Alan Larrick added, “The hope of sports gaming is that we’re going to get more people into the casinos. Not only are those people going to bet on the games, but they’ll bet on table games, the slots, they’ll spend the night there, have drinks there, buy things at the hotel.” Still, he said, it’s difficult to project the impact of sports betting. “It’s such an unknown. I do think it’s going to bring a new demographic to the casinos, a younger player, a more educated player. It’ll just bring different people into the casinos who maybe are not there now.”
At Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races in Ranson, General Manager Scott Saunders agreed, noting no one knows what to expect. He said casinos will have to constantly evaluate trends, from how to market the sports books to whether expansions are necessary. “We’ll have to figure out the rhythm of our business. As time goes by, as mobile gaming comes on, people will kind of figure out how they like to place their bets, where they like to place it from, as long as they’re in the state of West Virginia. And we’ll see what the rhythm is to people’s play patterns as this business grows in the state of West Virginia,” Saunders said.
He added casinos will have to stay flexible as they learn what bettors want. “We’re not, definitely, going to paint ourselves into a corner and say, ‘This is the way it has to be.’ Guests will tell us, we’ll get a lot of feedback, we’ll figure out how it needs to change and it’ll be kind of organic in how it’s developed,” Saunders said.
Construction hasn’t begun on the sports book lounge at Hollywood Casino but Saunders said it will be located in a high-traffic area near the current sports bar. Slot machines will be moved and new walls and TV sets will be installed. “There should be no mistaking where the sports book is,” Saunders said. He added, “I believe we can make Labor Day weekend. We have a great design and construction team in our corporate office. I believe in the timeline. We’re gonna be okay. We believe it creates another experience here. We’re excited about what it means to us as a business.”
Saunders said Hollywood Casino’s sports book will be the only one in the immediate area. Officials plan to advertise it through a variety of media platforms to attract players from West Virginia and nearby Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
The Casino Club at the Greenbrier announced last month it had an agreement with FanDuel to be its sports book provider, including an onsite wagering platform inside the facility plus a FanDuel-branded online site and mobile application.
Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack has been holding job fairs for sports book employees, said President and General Manager Kim Florence. “We are preparing for sports betting right now.” She said construction has started on the sports book location. “It’s right in the middle of the gaming floor, so it’s really easy to find. It’s got a lot of access to food and beverage options and we’re really excited about what it’s going to look like. It’s going to be transformed into a place where people can actually watch sports and bet on sports at the same time. Anything that you would anticipate seeing in Las Vegas in a sports betting lounge, we will have the ability to do here,” Florence said.
At Mountaineer Casino Racetrack & Resort, Cavacini said officials are working with contractors to design sports betting areas within the existing casino and also are talking to potential sports book operators. He said the Delaware North-run Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino Racetrack and Mardi Gras Casino & Resort in Cross Lanes may open their sports books slightly later than the state’s other casinos. “Delaware North anticipates being open for signing up accounts and signing up patrons early in September but they will not be taking live bets until late on in September. They want to initiate their bricks-and-mortar business and the mobile business at the same time. The mobile aspects of this operation are huge. So they will open the latter part of September with both in-house betting at the casinos and their app will be working and operational at that time also,” Cavacini said.
He added Delaware North has signed contracts with a provider for those two casinos and additional televisions and mobile equipment have been ordered for both. Cavacini said, “People at Mardi Gras tell me they get at least 15 calls a day. From that standpoint, I think it’s great.”
