FanDuel opens at Valley Forge Casino
UPPER MERION >> Just in time for March Madness, FanDuel Sportsbook made its official debut at Valley Forge Casino Resort on Wednesday.
Kevin Burnin, who works in King of Prussia, had done Sportsbook betting at several area casinos, including Sugar House, Parx and Harrah’s, so seeing how Sportsbook at Valley Forge compared to the others was an essential part of his day.
Keeping his eye on the basketball game on the big screen, he gave his nod of approval to what he’d seen so far at Valley Forge Wednesday afternoon.
“A lot of the issues with the Sportsbooks in the Philly area so far is that the main games are not on the big TV, whereas in Vegas they always know what the main games are and they’re always on,” Burnin said.
“At Sugar House, Parx and Harrah’s you have to go up and ask the managers every time the main game changes, ‘Hey can you put the main game on?’ At some places the managers are just not as experienced, so you have to go up to them three or four times a day. Here, they seem to be on top of it. I guess we’re all learning about this together,” he added, laughing.
Located near the main entrance of the casino at 1210 First Ave., King of Prussia, Sportsbook features seven teller windows, 29 video displays (televisions and odds screens), two sports tickers and seating for more than 30 customers and will feature bets on all major U.S. sports including professional baseball, basketball, soccer, football, golf, boxing, motorsports and collegiate football and basketball.
A partnership between casino owner Boyd Gaming and FanDuel Group, it’s the first FanDuel Sportsbook established in the state of Pennsylvania.
“Located next to our gaming floor, which has recently been expanded with 250 new slot machines, we take pride in continuing to enhance our amenities and offerings here at Valley Forge Casino Resort, noted Valley Forge Casino Resort General Manager Dave Zerfing. “As we continue to upgrade our property, this is just the next phase. We recently remodeled our convention floor and we recently remodeled our casino Tower rooms, so this is another step of adding an amenity to the property that the public really wants.”
Matt King, CEO, FanDuel Group added: “Opening the FanDuel Sportsbook at Valley Forge Casino Resort is the start of FanDuel Group’s retail sports betting expansion in partnership with Boyd Gaming. Our experience operating the top sportsbook in New Jersey at the Meadowlands Racetrack will serve us well as we enter Philadelphia and compete for customers in an area with some of the most passionate and knowledgeable sports fans.”
The New York-based FanDuel got its start 10 years ago as a backyard Texas brainstorm between five co-founders and is now a sports-tech entertainment giant that is changing the way consumers engage with their favorite sports, teams, and leagues in a multibillion-dollar industry, According to the company website, fanduel. com.
A subsidiary of Paddy Power Betfair, FanDuel boasts a portfolio consists of leading brands across gaming, sports betting, daily fantasy sports, advance-deposit wagering, and TV/media, including FanDuel, Betfair US, DRAFT, and TVG.
“We’re a full-service amenity property here in Southeastern Pennsylvania, with 400 hotel rooms, convention space, and most of the other properties only have a casino and restaurants; they don’t have a hotel, convention space and all that,” Zerfing said. “Sports betting in the Northeast has always been very popular. A lot of it was done illegally, and now as these Sportsbooks are opening up around the state people are able to indulge in it.”
It was important that Sportsbook made its debut at Valley Forge in time for the upcoming March Madness, Zerfing allowed.
“We wanted to be open before March Madness because it is one of the premier events that allows us to showcase the Sportsbook to our customers in the area and also lets us showcase all the investment we made in the property in the last two to three months,” he said.
“It’s really great timing for us.. We started to design this in December and started to build it at the end of January. I think the excitement around March Madness, one of the premier events that a Sportsbook can do, will be unparalleled, especially Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the first weekend. It’s not just people making bets but hanging out to watch the game. And there’s always four games going at one time, so everybody’s always happy about one play that’s happening at one point in time ... so it’s a really exciting time.”