Thought about Vegas Sportsbooks.

[FunkSoulBrother]

All I ever hear on theRX is how vegas sportsbooks suck. They are a joke, apparently, with their odds and limits and so on.

Now I don't know the costs of a business license in Vegas, but is seems to me that if things were this bad, a group of investors could put together as little as a couple 10's of millions of dollars and be the sweetest book in town.

Why hasn't this happened? And feel free to tear me apart here, but I'm really curious.

Do you have to be a megacorp to start a new gambling establishment in Vegas or something?

 

[TheGeneral+]

Should be no criticism. Good question funk.

 

[stew]

Save your money, Funk....NV Gaming Control Board has over-regulated sportsbooks into not being able to compete with the offshores.

Come to think of it, that's probably why NV is just putting up token resistance to this internet gaming bill.

 

[WildBill]

Land/casino costs in a place where people would come to is an absolute fortune. You can't build a new place either, there are only a few pieces of land left in town that are allowed to have casinos on them and Stations or Coast owns just about every one of them. Not to mention they are all far suburban locations, not the place you would put a "killer" book. Only thing you could do is take an old casino, with its license, and make it into the book you mention. Problem is those licenses are worth an absolute fortune now because of the reasons I mentioned.

Bottom line is that regulation does it in indirectly, but really economics is what hurts the most. When only so many places can be casinos, that scarcity must be handled by using the limited space for its most profitable use. In this case that would be regular casinos. Back in the days when SB 208 didn't exist, when you didn't have to build 200 hotel rooms with every casino, when land on the Strip was still plentiful...this would have been possible. But now you have the city closing in on 40 million visitors a year and to top it off the regulators are cutting off supply. That is the simple end of story explanation.

 

[FunkSoulBrother]

I see.. thanks for the info WildBill. I wasn't really concocting a scheme to start my own...rather I was just lamenting the state that the books are currently in.

My next thought was "just build it somewhere else in the state" but then I realized that no squares (comparatively) would drive out in the desert just to place a bet, but the sharpies would come...

 

[WildBill]

If you could build it in the middle of New York or Chicago hell yeah, it would make a lot of money. In Nevada you are lucky to break even.

Truth is books aren't all that bad. The wall to wall grins of tourists who can't keep a straight face after seeing a board in October with 80 NCAA games, 16 NFL games, 10 NHL games, baseball playoffs, boxing, etc...it reminds you that they still are a nice amenity to 98% of the world, its just us 2% who take this seriously that are pretty much left out. After all to those that bitch around here in Nevada, you could go live in the 49 other states and be forced to drive 15 miles to go to a decent sports bar on Sunday, be forced to drop $30 on lousy food and domestic beer, be forced to sit in front of a maybe 20" TV where you can watch one game while squinting at the other TVs across the room to stay on top of other games...or you can go to a book and not deal with all this hassle for free!

 

Hey WildBill,

What is your favorite book to hangout and watch all the games and why? I have been to Vegas 3 times and seen most of the books. My favorite is Bellagio great recliners, free drinks, and hot waitresses. Just curious for my next trip.

Thanks,


SLOUCH