ONEIDA, Wis. (NBC 26) — Oneida Casino's permanent sportsbook officially opened Friday morning, two days ahead of their self-imposed deadline of Super Bowl LVI.
Casino executives say they were motivated to open by Super Bowl Sunday in order to tap in to the NFL-driven crowd they've seen increasing weekly since event wagering first became available at Oneida on November 30.
"Playoffs start, we see that base, that customer base starting to grow week by week," Assistant Chief Financial Officer Chad Fuss said. "So the first weekend of playoffs we had a lot of foot traffic, a lot of event wagering going on, sports bet booking. The next week, we've seen that increase even more. So the popularity of the NFL and leading up to the Super Bowl has been increasing every single week."
Oneida Sportsbook will allow for limited in-play betting on their kiosks between the lounge and casino floor. Bettors have win bets, money lines, totals and a limited scope of prop bets available to them on Sunday.
"Most likely you're not going to be able to bet on if somebody has pink shoelaces in their shoes or not, but you're definitely going to be able to bet on who do you think is going to score the first field goal," Fuss said of the list of prop bets available to them.
The permanent sportsbook features food and drinks as well as wall-to-wall television coverage of sporting events to give bettors another arena to gamble and socialize at. Fuss says casino management is excited about the diverse crowd of bettors of all ages and levels of experience they've garnered in just over two months of event wagering.
"We want people to come and enjoy the Super Bowl," Fuss said. "If they choose to, we have a full bar, we have a full kitchen open. We have seating. We want you to come with your friends. It's really a social, entertainment experience we're trying to provide and we know the Super Bowl is one of them."
Fuss said that March Madness has garnered a significant amount of NCAA basketball betting through the Oneida Sportsbook as well, and managers are hoping for minimal dropoff in foot traffic between the two events.
