Wind Creek Bethlehem’s sportsbook now open
Sports bettors can now place in-person wagers at Wind Creek Bethlehem casino.
There was a soft opening of the new space on Monday evening with a grand opening planned for Saturday.
Wind Creek received approval from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board in June to conduct sports wagering and began construction of the sportsbook this summer. The casino said Wednesday it is opening the feature just in time for week 11 of the NFL season.
“We get asked by a lot of guests if wehave this available. It’s a hot ticket service right now,” said Rebecca
Gorgas, director of table games at Wind Creek. Other casinos, including those in NewJersey and Las Vegas, already offer sportsbooks, where people can wager on various sports competitions, she said.
The new sportsbook will be operated by Betfred USA, a subsidiary of United Kingdom-based Betfred. Betfred USA opened its office in Las Vegas last year. This is the company’s third sportsbook in the United States. They also operate sportsbooks at Grand Falls Casino & Golf Resort in Larchwood, Iowa, and Saratoga Casino in Black Hawk, Colorado.
The Wind Creek sportsbook is in the former Buddy V’s Ristorante. It has expanded the casino floor by 3,273 square feet to 153,982 square feet.
The space includes more than 70 television screens, including a video wall made up of 21 55-inch flat screen TVs. The screens can play multiple games, or all be turned to the same game during big events, said Michael Pearsall, Wind Creek’s sportsbook manager.
There’s theater-style seating in front of the video wall, with tables scattered throughout the facility and a bar toward the back. There are also 31 televisions for individual viewing, three betting windows and eight self-service betting kiosks.
Mobile betting through Betfred Sports in the Wind Creek Casino mobile app is expected next month.
Both Pearsall and Gorgas said they expect the sportsbook to increase revenues significantly for the casino, since sports betting is so popular.