Plenty of sports betting, but not much winning, at Rivers
Early numbers for the state’s legalized sports betting suggest Pittsburghers could be more enthused by the new gambling opportunity than residents elsewhere in the state — but they may also be worse at it, at least initially.
Regardless, barely one month after their sportsbook opened, Rivers Casino officials view it as a new hub of excitement that will become an even bigger focal point later in 2019 in the North Shore gambling hall.
“It has impressed me the amount of new people and the people who have not been here for some time [who have been drawn by the sports betting]. I knew they would come — I just didn’t know they would come this quickly,” said Andrei Barnabei, Rivers Casino’s vice president of slot operations, who oversaw the sports book’s launch.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board released numbers Thursday showing that in its 19 days of operation from Dec. 13-31, the Rivers sportsbook attracted $5,581,553 in wagers. That was more than the $5,539,806 bet on sports in the same number of days at its sister property, the SugarHouse Casino in Philadelphia. It was also more than the $5,051,730 taken in bets during the entire month at the state’s first sportsbook, at Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course near Harrisburg.
Legalized sports betting was made possible in Pennsylvania by October 2017 legislation and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last May. Seven of the state’s 12 operating casinos have applied for the $10 million license to provide it. As the only one thus far in Western Pennsylvania, the Rivers clearly benefits from both the local appetite for sports and its close proximity to Heinz Field, where two Steelers games were played in December after the sportsbook opened.
Mr. Barnabei and patrons have described long lines at betting windows and self-service kiosks on weekends and large, noisy crowds glued to games on the sportsbook’s wallmounted televisions, both during Steelers contests and other events. But curiously, the state’s numbers show bettors have not fared well there, compared to other Pennsylvanians.
Sportsbooks are relatively small revenue generators for casinos, with an industry standard being that they come out about 5 percent ahead by charging a higher amount, known as the “vig,” for losing wagers compared to winners. The state’s December numbers, however, showed the Rivers retaining not 5 percent but 19 percent from sports bets, compared to 12 percent at the SugarHouse and Hollywood casinos.
Those percentages do not mean bettors lost all of that amount, because those who won bets on late December contests in many cases would have left the casino before the outcome and returned in January to be paid off. The difference in winning percentages at the Rivers compared to the other casinos is a little surprising, however, in that the Steelers provided wins for those betting on them against the point spread in two of their three late December contests.
Mr. Barnabei said patrons have bet more on football than any other sport, as is typical with casino sportsbooks, but when it comes to the Steelers, “I didn’t see a lot of what I would call betting with the heart.”
Although the Steelers season has ended, huge betting is expected over the next two weeks on NFL conference championships and the Super Bowl. The sportsbook is also about to add the chance to wager on golf, tennis and auto racing on top of the football, basketball, hockey and soccer matches that have been featured.
Volume is typically what matters most to sportsbooks, and the demand at the Rivers has been such that on Sundays it has expanded its normal number of six betting windows by using a second location at its Players Club. It also started with six self-betting kiosks, expanded the number to 12 and will add another six in time for the Super Bowl, Mr. Barnabei said. He said the sportsbook’s staff has also increased from 20 to 23 since opening.
The casino is in the early planning and design stages for a permanent, bigger sportsbook in a central area of the gaming floor (site of the existing Levels Lounge) to replace the current location. The latest plans call for it to have at least eight betting windows instead of six and at least 50 percent more seats for viewing than the existing 98. A false ceiling will be removed, allowing 10 more feet of vertical space for TVs and odds boards.
“This is going to be a centerpoint in the casino,” more prominent than is often the case with Las Vegas sportsbooks, Mr. Barnabei said. “It’s a different approach, different market. We’re in an environment where sports teams are richly engrained in our culture.”
Even if the casino makes far less in direct revenue from sports betting than from slot machines and table games, it benefits from attracting new customers who do other gambling and buy food and drinks, Mr. Barnabei said.
That was confirmed by Jason Lewis, who was making multiple wagers at a kiosk on a weekday morning and said he has been at the sportsbook nearly every day since it opened. He has used the Rivers to replace most of the gambling he was doing with an online sportsbook based outside the U.S.
“It’s a lot more convenient here when it comes to getting paid,” explained Mr. Lewis, 37, of Swissvale. “And on game days, it’s like a sports club atmosphere, with all the screaming. You can tell the people love it.”
As for winning, it’s hard to beat the house edge in sports betting just like with anything else in the casino, although Mr. Lewis said he does OK by focusing on college basketball games.
“Anything you really pay attention to and study, you have a good shot at it, but every ticket looks like a winner until the game starts,” he said, chuckling as he checked his three betting slips from the kiosk.