Adam Sachs, counsel and senior policy advisor for Dentons, joined Brendan Bussmann of B Global Advisors to discuss the issue. The panel was entitled ‘From Sin City to Sport Central: Creating an Intercommercial Gaming Ecosystem’.
“Having a casino connected with professional sports… I think we all help each other,” said Sachs, whose law firm works with professional sports teams and gambling companies. “It’s all fan engagement or consumer engagement. We tend to bring each other to a destination. It’s also good for the economies.”
Sachs maintained that he believes that more is better. While it might seem like having a casino or sportsbook in or next to a sports venue could be at cross purposes, the reality he sees is different.
“Experiences matter, concerts matter, professional baseball games matter,” he said. “Being at a casino and experiencing that rather than doing it on your phone, that matters. From a community perspective and an economic development perspective, the only game in town, the biggest game in town is these experience-based developments and casinos provide a reason to go an area around a baseball stadium 365 days a year rather than 82 baseball games, 82 days a year provide an opportunity for people to pour into these venues before or after.”
In some states, partnerships mandated
Across the US, sports betting has proliferated since the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was overturned in 2018. In some cases, lawmakers have required that wagering platforms and retail sportsbooks be tethered to professional sports venues. So far, at least seven states allow for sportsbooks at or adjacent to pro venues. The latest is Missouri, where voters legalised in November. In neighbouring Kansas, digital betting has been legal since 2022.
In Missouri, as in Washington DC, there will be exclusive zones around sports stadiums. In some of those zones, only the operator connected to the venue will be available.
Whatever the regulatory setup, Sachs is on the forefront of encouraging partnerships between professional sports and casinos in Kansas City.
“Frankly, [pro teams and casinos do] compete against each other in places like Kansas City, where you have four or five land-based casinos not tied to the stadium,” Sachs said. “People are not going to the ballpark as much as they used to because they have these other entertainment options, but if you concentrate that activity [you attract more people]. The more people around, too, the safer a community is. So you get this vibe created by the gambling operations and the sports operations. You not only build up revenue for the public entities, you enhance public safety.”
Where sportsbooks and pro venues intersect
The new Missouri law requires that digital betting platforms be tethered to either existing casinos or professional sports venues. The question for cities in Missouri is which operators will partner with professional teams and if those operators will build out retail sportsbooks.
In Washington DC the William Hill Sportsbook at Capital One Arena in July 2020 became the first book in a pro sports venue.
Since then, others have opened. Caesars Sportsbook has opened at Chase Field in Phoenix, FanDuel has opened at Footprint Center in Phoenix and at the United Center in Chicago, Penn Entertainment has a sportsbook at Kansas Speedway and DraftKings has opened retail sportsbooks at Wrigley Field and TPC Scottsdale.
Pro sports remaking Las Vegas
In Las Vegas, T-Mobile Arena opened in 2016, marking a key change in the politics of America’s gaming capital. Home to the NHL Golden Knights, the arena was wedged between the then Monte Carlo and New York, New York. The location puts fans steps from casinos and sportsbooks. Since then, the NFL Raiders moved into Allegiant Stadium in 2020. That venue is across the highway from the Strip.
In 2028, a second Strip sports venue will debut. The Oakland Athletics’ $1.75 billion ballpark will open on property the team will share with a Bally’s casino resort. The land is owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties.
“I saw what happened when we built T-Mobile, I saw what happened when we built Allegiant,” Bussmann said. “T-Mobile was really about bringing locals back to the Strip. Not necessarily for a game, but for dinner or for other things along the way when they go to a Golden Knights game.
“You see the same thing with Allegiant, but it is much more with the tourists. You go into a Raider game and there is tremendous energy in the city that day, not just from the locals, but from the people from where the (opposing) team is. It’s creating those synergies from between those different sectors that comes from drawing people more to a venue offering a complete entertainment experience, whether that be gaming or sports or F&B… it gives something for everyone in that centre of entertainment.”
Sachs: Better together
In Sachs’ experience, sports franchises get the “benefit of the doubt” from government and citizens for all of the “goodwill”, economic investment and growth and philanthropy that they provide to communities. Gambling companies have an “opposite” experience. The industries can learn from each other and create a whole that it is bigger than the sum of its parts.
Sachs said: “If you get those two together on the same page and get the public relations strategy together synergistically, the chances of success in the long run are far greater.”
Original article: https://igamingbusiness.com/casino-games/casinos-pro-sports-team-can-create-meaningful-synergy/
