Whenever the New Jersey Devils take the ice, fans will have the option of watching their game as well as other live games out of a lounge area that looks and feels like a sportsbook.
As part of becoming a team sponsor, sportsbook operator William Hill will have its name on a Prudential Center lounge where matches can be viewed on more than 20 screens with odds boards displaying the menu of gambling options across all sport.
Since the NHL is not comfortable with the venue being a real sportsbook where bets can be placed in windows and kiosks, William Hill US CEO Joe Asher told ESPN that company ambassadors will help bettors in downloading William Hill’s gaming program. The space is being converted and rebranded quickly, but there’s presently no opening date.
Odds will be displayed not just within the sports lounge but also on the team’s 4-story scoreboard. The lounge will be open for every event in the venue, including concerts. That is a good deal of exposure, as Billboard ranked the venue 10th in the world on its own Arena Power List earlier this month.
“Our goal has always been to create Prudential Center the home of entertainment and sports in New Jersey, but finally our duty is to create the most lively fan experience in the industry today, and the William Hill Sports Lounge will play a part in amplifying enthusiast experience here,” said Hugh Weber, president of the Devils’ ownership team, Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment.
William Hill, which operates more sportsbooks than every other company in the country thanks to its 108 places in Nevada, has been aggressive in New Jersey since May, when the Supreme Court allowed states to make their own conclusions concerning sports betting after ruling that parts of the skilled and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 were unconstitutional.
The business became the primary operator of a sportsbook in the country as it started at Monmouth Park racetrack on June 14. But competition is fierce within the country, which can be projected to surpass Nevada in sports gambling manage and revenue.
Daily fantasy sites DraftKings and FanDuel, armed with a nutritious database, were among the first to launch apps on which lovers could bet so long as it was done within state lines. FanDuel followed with its first sportsbook at the Meadowlands, on the grounds where the New York Jets and Giants play, which opened a month after William Hill’s racetrack location debuted.
“We’re spending a significant quantity of marketing dollars in New Jersey,” Asher said. “It will be quite a competitive and expensive landscape for the next couple of years. A think a lot of companies in the space feel the need to push hard at the country as a testing ground to prove they could be everywhere. In a way, it’s similar to the Iowa caucuses in politics”
While New Jersey is one of five countries that has legalized sports betting — combined with Nevada, Delaware, Mississippi and West Virginia — it is the fastest-growing state. In the first four weeks after sports betting was legalized, New Jersey took in $336.6 million in wagers, according to the nation’s Division of Gaming Enforcement.
“I said that, when fully mature, the New Jersey sports betting market would double that of Nevada,” Asher said. “It is early days, but I could see how even that’s being conservative.”
William Hill is currently one of eight firms offering mobile gambling on devices within the state.
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