Placing bets in sports bars: It’s coming to Tunica casino
Americans love to bet on sports. One in every five adults in the United States will wager a total of $8.5 billion on the NCAA college basketball tournament now under way, the American Gaming Association calculates. So what’s a casino to do? Open a sports bar and add a feature uncommon in most sports bars in the country — a place to make legal bets on games being played on TV.
That’s the approach taken by Gold Strike Casino Resorts in the Tunica County gaming district in the far corner of metropolitan Memphis.
Gold Strike will tear out the Atrium restaurant and install an upscale bar that looks like a sports bar, not a casino, and includes a small side area for plac-
ing bets. Details about the restaurant, named Moneyline Sports Bar & Grill, were released on Wednesday.
David Tsai, Gold Strike president, doubts Moneyline will attract enough far-traveling sports fans to fill the 31story hotel on the property.
Gold Strike already has a temporary area set up for sports betting. With the NCAA tournament, sports fans tend to drive in only for the day.
“March Madness is bringing in some, but it’s not a huge change in occupancy,” Tsai said.
Sports gambling is still a sideline in the 4,000-employee casino district, though it is a growing sideline amid an uncertain period for the industry.
As numerous as Starbucks
Gambling advocates throughout the nation have urged professional sports owners to follow the lead of Europe and make gambling on games common and easy to do.
Ted Leonsis, owner of the NBA’S Washington Wizards and the NHL’S Washington Capitals, is a longtime proponent of the common and easy. In The New York Times last month, sports writer Bruce Schoenfeld pointed out Leonsis figures gambling kiosks someday could be as common as Starbucks in U.S. cities. Easy access to gaming would stimulate interest in the NBA and other organized sports, and that interest would lift teams’ market value. Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner, came out in favor of this approach. It reflects a new attitude among team owners.
Not long ago many owners feared open gambling would expose players to game-fixing temptations. Now, professional athletes are so well compensated, the thinking goes, they are said to be above mischief that could ruin the integrity of their sport.
Moreover, television networks and cable systems face declining viewership and have become reluctant to pay exorbitant sums for televising games. Schoenfeld reported that open gaming offers team owners new sources of money. One prospect: sell player and game data to sites that stream information on TV for perusal by sports gamblers.
Widespread gambling out in the open is probably the future of sports. When it comes, easy access to gaming might deter interest in Moneyline.
Until then, fans will have to be content with wagering on sports in the seven states that allow betting on games. A U.S. Supreme Court decision opened the way for sports betting to spread out of Nevada, the only state where it had been legal, and there since 1949.
Mississippi let casinos take sports bets beginning last Aug. 1. Gold Strike was the first Tunica casino to do so. First Jackpot, Fitzgerald’s, Hollywood, Horseshoe and Sam’s Town soon opened their own versions. Last month, which included the NFL’S Super Bowl game, gamblers wagered $6.5 million on sports in Tunica’s casinos and $25.1 million statewide, the Mississippi Gaming Commission reported.
Inside Gold Strike, sports bets are now made in temporary quarters. This area will be replaced, probably sometime in July, by the permanent Moneyline. The bar is intended to be a destination for sports fans who are not typical casino patrons.
‘’It’s a different kind of customer,’’ Tsai said, noting sports fans who bet on games rarely indulge in the casino’s 1,100 slot machines.
Designed for sports fans, the new bar will contain no slots. Renderings show a sleek bar. More than 160 seats offer views of more than 50 television screens. There’s also a single Topgolf video golf simulator for diners to play.
Inside the bar is a kiosk planned for taking horse racing bets and counters for wagering on organized sports. These are off to the side. Plans also call for fans to eventually be able to wager from their phones while inside the building.
“There’ll probably come a day when it is much more available,’’ Tsai said of legalized sports wagering expanding across the United States.
With that day in mind, Gold Strike’s focus will remain on slots and table games, while Moneyline caters to sports fans looking for a different kind of sports bar experience.
Moneyline could help Gold Strike compete with the formidable rival closer to the population center of Memphis.
Five years after completing a $38 million expansion that brought in slot machines, Southland Park Gaming & Racing now plans a $250 million expansion alongside its original dog racing track in West Memphis, Arkansas.
New projects, announced in January, will include a 20-story hotel, a 113,000square-foot casino and space for proposed sports betting areas. All this will put the West Memphis facility “well above the Tunica experience,” said David Wolf, Southland president.
Gold Strike, though, sees the new sports bar as a way to keep drawing in customers, and bring in live entertainment, like dueling pianos.
“That’s why we decided to invest in Moneyline,” Tsai said. “It is not only to bet but to watch sports and enjoy a meal and Topgolf. Even if Tennessee and Arkansas eventually provide sports betting, we can provide a little better experience. Our goal is to provide not only a permanent sports book facility, but an opportunity to create a really great sports and entertainment experience.’’
Ted Evanoff, business columnist of The Commercial Appeal, can be reached at evanoff@commercialappeal.com and (901) 529-2292.