DraftKings Adds To NJ Presence While Resorts World Casino Preps For NY Sports Betting

DraftKings is opening up its first retail brick-and-mortar sportsbook in New Jersey. The land-based sportsbook will open on November 20 at the Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, just as long as the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement provides approval on time.

The creation of a land-based sportsbook is an extension of an existing partnership that DraftKings has with Resorts Casino Hotel that was brokered in June. The two corporate entities initially became business partners because DraftKings needed a licensing partner in order to satisfy a regulatory requirement and begin offering its online sportsbook in New Jersey.

DraftKings’ online sportsbook in New Jersey has been a major success to date. It was the top online sportsbook amount the eight operators in New Jersey in September. The company helped Resorts Casino Hotel bring in online gross revenue of $8.5 million from $2.97 million collected in August.

The new retail sportsbook offered by DraftKings and Resorts Casino will feature live, in-game betting and five betting windows along with twelve kiosks for placing wagers. There will also be stadium seating and a VIP area.

On November 12, DraftKings announced that it will also be opening up a brick-and-mortar sportsbook in Mississippi. That sportsbook, in partnership with the Scarlet Pearl Casino Resort in D’Iberville, Mississippi, is set to open its doors on November 16.

Another Retail And Online Sportsbook Also Gets Set To Open In New York.

While New York is not yet one of the few states offering sports betting within its borders, many believe that it should be among the next group of states to regulate sports betting as soon as the beginning of 2019. As such, companies are getting ready to be able to offer wagering as soon as the floodgates open.

Resorts World Catskills, one of four commercial casinos in New York that is authorized by statute to offer retail sports betting as soon as regulations are issued, is going to start building out its sportsbook. It has announced an alliance with Empire Resorts, Inc., an affiliate of bet365 Group Limited, to develop not only a physical sportsbook, but also an online product for users in New York.

The term of the alliance is for twenty years. The companies will take an equal share of profits from the retail and online sportsbooks as soon as bet365 recoups its start-up investment and other costs. Up to $50 million will be invested by bet365 to become Empire Resorts, Inc.’s second largest shareholder.