This weekend marked the first full slate of NFL games since the SCOTUS ruling on legal sports betting, and the FanDuel Sportsbook at the Meadowlands Racetrack "was on full display," its floor a "sea of blue and white Giants jerseys," according to Nick Corasanati of the N.Y. TIMES. The Racetrack is the "only legal sports-betting venue in the country to share a parking lot with a professional sports stadium," and the proximity to MetLife Stadium during the Giants' home opener against the Jaguars was "not without first-week hiccups." Giants games "require fans to hold parking passes to help manage tailgate crowds," and the same rules now "applied to those who arrived only to place bets at FanDuel, which was unwelcome news to those without game tickets." To "ease the mile-long slog across the cold, damp parking lot, FanDuel chartered buses to ferry would-be bettors through the rain" (N.Y. TIMES, 9/10). In N.Y., Fugallo & Staszewski note Monmouth Park’s William Hill Sportsbook "saw hundreds of people flood the Oceanport racetrack," as "lines of 20 or more people consistently stretched from the 14 betting windows" (N.Y. POST, 9/10). The AP's Wayne Parry noted there was an "hourlong wait in line to place bets at Atlantic City's Ocean Resort Casino as kickoff approached" for the first slate of games yesterday. Ocean Resort Owner Bruce Deifik was "encouraged to see how full" the sportsbook was (AP, 9/9). The N.Y. POST's Howie Kussoy "visited Atlantic City’s two-highest grossing sportsbooks -- Ocean Resort and Borgata -- and was challenged to return with more than the $500 given" to him by his employer (9/10).
THERE'S ALWAYS NEXT YEAR: In N.Y., Josh Kosman reports the New York State Gaming Commission this month is "expected to issue regulations for brick-and-mortar sports betting." A source said that then "there will be a 60-day vetting of the rules." The source said the state's casinos "will clearly miss this football season" (N.Y. POST, 9/10).
