Businesses have had to close across the country because of the coronavirus. This pandemic has closed the doors to casinos that have never been closed in their existence.
To keep some businesses open, owners have had to become creative in how they operate. Restaurants have had to make some of the biggest changes, starting to either deliver or take orders over the phone.
The changes in strategy don’t stop at the food industry, and they’ve even made their way to the sports betting world.
Two sportsbooks in Las Vegas are opening drive-thru services for people to open mobile betting accounts. The South Point began operating Wednesday, and Circa Sports planned on following their lead on Thursday.
To create an account, customers must sign up in person. These regulations have been in place and haven’t changed since COVID-19. This has been a problem for legal sports betting states in the US.
Ready To Bet
By the reaction from the opening of South Point, people are ready for businesses to open back up. The turnout on their first day was huge, with cars lining up to sign up for an account.
South Point general manager Ryan Growney said: “I had an over/under on how many cars we’d see. I lost about noon (an hour after opening).”
The crazy thing is, there aren’t that many sports to bet on. This doesn’t change the fact that sports fans are bored and might just have to bet on table tennis to make it through.
One of the biggest announcements this past week was that UFC 249 would still be on. This had to be one of the biggest draws to get fans to open an account.
There is no doubt that this card will have a large number of bets placed, even from fans who aren’t used to paying attention to the UFC.
“We’re just trying to give patrons as many betting options as we can,” Circa sportsbook operations manager Jeffrey Benson said.
William Hill has also announced that they will be joining this craze. They will be creating three drive-thru stations where bettors can create and fund their mobile betting accounts.
When Sports Return 100%
This pandemic has not been fun for the average sports fan or bettor. There has been a lack of action on tv, resulting in nothing to bet on. But this fact is going to open up the flood gates when sports make their return.
There might not be fans in the stands, but there will be more people watching on tv than ever before. Possibly with more bettors placing wagers on games than there has ever been.
Sure, the economy is down as well. The average bettor might dial down the amount that they are going to regularly wager, but the number of people in the action might be greater.
If social distancing is a thing for too much longer, businesses are going to start following the example that these sports betting companies have set.