The first Sunday of the NFL season is treated like a holiday in the sports betting world, which is why Boyd opened its new facility last weekend. The NFL is discussing moving the Super Bowl to Presidents Day weekend, a three-day holiday.

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The largest sportsbook operated by Boyd Gaming Corp. may not be the place “where everybody knows your name.”

But that sentiment is the reason the company (with its nine Las Vegas casinos) and other gaming operators continue to invest millions of dollars into expanding or modernizing large sportsbooks with massive viewing screens, comfortable seating areas and food and beverage options. Those expenditures happen even as more than 65 percent of Nevada’s $8 billion sports gaming industry come through mobile wagering accounts — bets made anywhere outside the casino.

“A sportsbook is more than just a place to make wagers,” said Boyd Gaming Vice President of Race & Sports Bob Scucci. “At our properties, the sportsbook is the place where people come four or five times a week. It’s where they go to meet their friends and congregate.”

While lacking the volume of remote betting, physical sportsbooks are often where the eye-popping, six-or-seven-figure wagers associated with the Super Bowl or Final Four are most likely to take place.

That explains why customers decked in jerseys from seemingly all 32 NFL teams packed the newly opened 10,500-square-foot sportsbook at the Suncoast Hotel & Casino early Sunday morning more than two hours before the NFL’s opening weekend kicked off.

Boyd closed its showroom at the Suncoast earlier this year and converted the space into a sportsbook with multilevel seating areas and a wraparound LED monitor.

“That's the centerpiece and it's what we spent the most time on,” Scucci said of the roughly 15-foot-tall high-tech LED screen that covers more than 1,700 square feet. “The software allows you to put up different graphics and ways to display the odds,” he said. “We have the flexibility to kind of create an experience whether it's one single event or a series of events.” 

At the entrance is a 130-foot-long sports ticker with scrolling scores and betting odds at a brightness that allows for viewing from throughout the Summerlin-area casino. 

“That’s the idea we were going for,” Scucci said.

Suncoast’s new sportsbook is the latest entry in the competitive Las Vegas locals sports betting market. Red Rock Resorts opened a spacious new STN Sportsbook inside Durango Casino & Resort in December and recently unveiled the remodeled STN Sportsbook at Sunset Station.

In fiscal year 2024, mobile sports wagering accounted for 66 percent — $5.3 billion — of the $8.1 billion wagered in the 12 months. In July, the figure was slightly less than 68 percent. Nevada (unlike many other states with legal sports betting) still requires sports gamblers to register and initially fund their mobile accounts at the physical sportsbook.

Boyd, along with Red Rock Resorts and other operators, have long opposed removing the state’s in-person registration requirement because of the investments made into the sportsbooks. Boyd operates sports betting in other states through the company’s 5 percent ownership in FanDuel.

Scucci said sportsbooks account for the use of mobile and customers’ changing betting interests in different ways. The Suncoast has just five betting windows staffed with employees but opened the new sportsbook with 12 self-service betting kiosks. He said the number will soon grow to 16.

“When you're betting an in-game wager in the middle of a game, it’s actually a lot easier to do it yourself [on a mobile app or kiosk] rather than try to explain it to a ticket writer,” he said.

Suncoast plans to offer sportsbook customers a QR code for ordering “elevated stadium-style” food and will institute a way for customers to reserve seating at one of nearly one dozen booths or plush chairs and couches in the viewing space. The sportsbook has 180 seats, which includes the bar area and high-top tables.

“That's another thing with the evolution,” Scucci said. “I never thought we would be reserving and charging for seating in a sportsbook.”

The sportsbook is just part of an overall renovation for the 25-year-old Suncoast, which includes a remodel of the Summerlin property’s 95,000-square-foot casino. The former sportsbook at the opposite end of the casino will house the relocated bingo hall.

Last year, Boyd spent $50 million on a redevelopment at the Fremont Casino Hotel that added a new food court, a FanDuel branded sportsbook and updated a large portion of the gaming floor. In July, Boyd announced it would begin construction on Cadence Crossing, a new casino in Henderson that will replace the aging Jokers Wild on Boulder Highway.

The focus isn’t just on Las Vegas. Boyd, which has 28 casinos in 11 states, has numerous plans in several markets, including hotel room renovations, changing out restaurants and upgrading convention facilities.

“We’re in a very highly competitive business, whether it's here in Las Vegas or it's across the country,” Boyd CEO Keith Smith said on the company’s quarterly conference call in July, adding that changes in older properties are needed to retain customer interest.

Boyd spent $100 million this year to build a land-based casino in New Orleans to move the Treasure Chest Casino off an aging riverboat docked on Lake Pontchartrain. The company upgraded convention space at Ameristar St. Charles in Missouri and oversaw a hotel renovation at Blue Chip Casino in Indiana.

Meanwhile, Boyd is expected to enter the Virginia gaming market through a deal with the Pamunkey Indian Tribe to build a waterfront casino resort in Norfolk, Virginia.

AP: Southwest Airlines shakes up its board under pressure from a big shareholder

Via The Associated Press: 

Southwest Airlines, the largest air carrier serving Harry Reid International Airport, will revamp its board and the chairman will retire next year, but it intends to keep CEO Robert Jordan in a partial concession to hedge fund Elliott Investment Management, which has been pushing for changes at the airline — including Jordan’s ouster.

Southwest said Tuesday that six directors will leave the board in November and it plans to appoint four new, independent directors, potentially including candidates put forward by Elliott.

Elliott, the fund led by billionaire investor Paul Singer, has built a 10 percent stake in recent weeks and advocated changes it says will improve Southwest’s financial performance and stock price. Elliott blames Southwest’s management for the airline’s lagging stock price — even after a rally in the past month it has dropped by more than half since April 2021. 

What I'm reading

💲 Travel industry to contribute record $11 trillion to global GDP in 2024 — Doyinsola Oladipo, Reuters 

Travel spending in the U.S., Chinese and German economies is expected to contribute the most to global gross domestic product.

🛫Burning Man exodus: Reno airport's busiest days of the year fueled by 'Burners' — Harriet Baskas, The Points Guy

Reno Tahoe International Airport had construction site-sized dumpsters to collect garbage, transparent plastic bags to wrap dusty luggage and to protect baggage equipment and paper booties to cover dirty shoes and boots.

🏀 Proposed Grand Sierra arena will seek corporate naming-rights partner, Meruelo Gaming executive says – Ray Hagar, Nevada Newsmakers

The arena, future home for UNR men’s basketball, is expected to cost $400 million. Meruelo senior vice president Andrew Diss gently pushed back on the idea of the minor league hockey Tucson Roadrunners moving to the arena.

News, notes and quotes

🏨 Bally’s deal with Palms gives its customers a Las Vegas location

Bally’s Corp. and the Palms Casino Resort struck a partnership between their players' rewards programs. Bally’s customers can now earn points by visiting the off-Strip Palms. Bally’s, which has 15 casinos in 10 states, no longer has a property in Las Vegas following the closure of the Tropicana in April. Bally’s has not said what it will build on site, which will be the future home for a 33,000-seat baseball stadium for the relocated Oakland Athletics. Bally's and Palms are initially focusing on travel getaways for Bally’s rewards club members. In a statement, the companies said they plan to broaden their partnership.

🤵Palms names Stephen Thayer as general manager

Stephen Thayer has been named general manager of the Palms Casino Resort by the San Manuel Gaming and Hospitality Authority. Thayer replaces Cynthia Kiser Murphey, who stepped down at the end of June after overseeing the off-Strip resort’s reopening in April 2022. Thayer was general manager of the Strat Hotel Casino & Tower for the past few years where he oversaw property renovations. Thayer previously led hotel operations for Caesars Entertainment at resorts in Atlantic City and Las Vegas.

👷 Red Rock’s newest California tribal casino project begins construction 

The North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians broke ground last week on a casino project that has been tied up in legal challenges for more than two decades. The project, which is fully owned by the tribe and managed by Station Casinos, the operating arm of Red Rock Resorts, will have 2,000 slot machines, 40 table games along and six dining options. Pre-construction activity has begun on the 305-acre site off state Route 99 in Madera, which is 30 miles north of Fresno. An opening date has not been announced. Red Rock has previously operated two California casinos: Thunder Valley near Sacramento and Graton near Santa Rosa.