ONEIDA (NBC 26) — Now, with a previously-existing app, sports bets can be placed almost anywhere on Oneida Nation land. Sportsbook app users still need to activate their accounts and make deposits or withdrawals at a casino location.
- Casino spokespeople say the sportsbook app's 100-mile radius for betting is the first of its kind in the state
- One gambler says he spends $120 on cash getting to and from the casino a few times a month
- The app will not allow bets to be placed on school grounds within the Oneida Reservation
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
Another change in the world of Wisconsin gambling. I'm your Oneida neighborhood reporter Pari Apostolakos. Now, with an app, sports bets can be placed anywhere on Oneida Nation land.
Decarlos Brinson lives in Appleton, and several times each month he makes the drive to Oneida Casino to bet on sports.
"I will use the app because I'm spending like $120 just to get back and forth to make a bet," Brinson said at the casino Monday afternoon.
Brinson says the ability to use the app closer to home is a gas and cash saver.
"Wow, I can go do this and if I win, I get paid," he said.
For the first time in the state, bets can be placed anywhere on Oneida Reservation grounds, about a 100 mile radius.
The casino marked another first in the state in 2021, when it launched its Sportsbook.
"The first year that we opened we literally had lines of people as far as you can see back this way waiting to make bets," Oneida Casino CFO Chad Fuss said. He says when the app's boundaries expanded last week the number of bets placed on the mobile app doubled the next day.
Since then, he says betting has increased overall by 20%.
"Customers have been asking us since we opened the sports bet booking to make it a little bit more broader," Fuss said.
School property is the only place on the reservation where you can't place a bet. Some gamblers like Frederick Ortiz still prefer stepping through the casino doors. But, he says he's not against pulling out his smartphone.
"I like coming over here though, I like the atmosphere," Ortiz said. "Perhaps someday, if like the weather is bad but I want to make some bets I'll just do that."
Oneida Casino Sportsbook app users still need to activate their accounts and make deposits or withdrawals at a casino location. At the Oneida Casino Pari Apostolakos NBC 26.
