Las Vegas Sportsbooks Start To Reopen Without Much On The Board

• Nevada’s gaming industry reopened on Thursday after a shutdown of more than two months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Most casinos reported better than expected traffic and hotel bookings.
• Sportsbooks are reopening to sparse crowds due primarily to a lack of events to bet on.

At least in the short term, ‘social distancing’ doesn’t look to be a problem at Las Vegas area sportsbooks. With many of the Vegas Valley’s casinos reopening on Thursday their retail sportsbooks are also back in business. So far they haven’t seen a lot of traffic but that likely has as much to do with the betting board as much as anything else. On a macro level, casinos have been pleased with the initial demand in terms of traffic and hotel bookings. Assuming these trends hold, sportsbook business will no doubt pick up dramatically once the NHL and NBA get back to work.

Here’s the list of retail sportsbooks that have reopened in the Las Vegas Valley. Keep in mind that many are operating reduced hours.

BOYD GAMING: The Orleans, Suncoast, Sam’s Town, Fremont, Cannery and Aliante.

CG TECHNOLOGY: The Venetian, The Cosmopolitan, The Silverton

CIRCA SPORTS: Golden Gate, D Las Vegas

MGM RESORTS: Bellagio, New York-New York, MGM Grand

STATION CASINOS: Red Rock Resort, Green Valley Ranch, Sunset Station, Palace Station, Boulder Station, Santa Fe Station, Wildfire Lanes, Wild Wild West, Wildfire Rancho

SOUTH POINT: South Point, Rampart Casino

WILLIAM HILL: Alamo Casino, Arizona Charlie’s Boulder, Arizona Charlie’s Decatur, Jerry’s Nugget, M Resort, Plaza, The Strat, Silver Sevens, Sahara Las Vegas, Railroad Pass Casino, Tuscany Casino, OYO Hotel and Casino. In addition, William Hill has reopened all of their kiosks.

WYNN: Wynn Las Vegas

According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, patrons in the racebooks at South Point and Sunset Station outnumbered those in the sportsbook which is extremely rare. Then again, the only sports on the Thursday board were Korean Baseball Organization action along with soccer from Portugal.

James Murphy

James Murphy is a preeminent authority on the international gambling industry and has made frequent appearances in the mainstream media including the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Forbes, Entertainment Weekly, CNBC and NPR. He has previously worked as a radio and podcasting host where he broadcast to an international audience that depended on his expertise and advice. Murphy also serves as an odds making consultant for sports and ‘non-sport novelty bets’ covering the entertainment industry, politics, technology, financial markets and just about everything else.

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