Golden Nugget and Resorts Open Atlantic City Sportsbooks
The Golden Nugget and Resorts Atlantic City became the sixth and seventh sportsbooks to open for business in New Jersey today. Both locations booked their first wagers within an hour of one another and are now open to the general public.
Golden Nugget Sportsbook Becomes New Jersey’s Sixth Sportsbook
Golden Nugget got to the finish line first this morning in booking its first sports wager at 10 AM local time. A Staten Island couple had the honors of placing the first bet at Golden Nugget this morning as it opened to the public:
A tweet from Golden Nugget offers a preview of the temporary sportsbook as it looks right now:
As the Press of Atlantic City reported earlier, Golden Nugget officials stated they plan to have a permanent sportsbook completed by the end of the month. Most NJ casinos are operating out of temporary locations right now after rushing to pounce on the opportunity to offer sports betting in time for the meat of the NFL season.
However, Golden Nugget is unique in that it will be the only NJ casino banned from offering wagers on NBA games. Golden Nugget owner Tilman Fertitta also owns the NBA’s Houston Rockets, and NJ regulations prohibit such relationships between sporting officials and sportsbooks.
Tilman Fertitta also operates a Golden Nugget sportsbook in Las Vegas, but that location is only prohibited from taking wagers on games involving the Nuggets. Reportedly, Fertitta is still hoping to convince New Jersey regulators to grant the Atlantic City location a similar reprieve so it can at least book wagers on NBA games not involving the Rockets.
Golden Nugget has also applied for an online sports betting license, but has not yet released a timeline for when that will go live.
Hours of Operation
The new Golden Nugget sportsbook will be operating on limited hours for the first two days of operation and then move to a full-time schedule as follows:
- Today: Open until 7 PM
- Thursday: 11 AM to 7 PM
- Daily moving forward: 10 AM to Midnight
Resorts Atlantic City Becomes Seventh NJ Sportsbook
About an hour after the Golden Nugget booked its first wager, Resorts Atlantic City followed suit and took its first sports wager as well this morning:
Like the Golden Nugget, Resorts Atlantic City is currently working out of a temporary location. This one is located near Bar One and features six betting windows plus a 15-foot video wall. A permanent sportsbook is under construction and will open “in the near future.”
Resorts Atlantic City missed out on being the first NJ casino to open a retail sportsbook, but it did get a jump on the market by opening the first sportsbook in partnership with DraftKings on August 1st.
In a press release published today, Resorts Casino revealed it will be opening two more sportsbooks in short order. Resorts Casino has an agreement in place with the Stars Group to open a betting site in the very near future (possibly under the BetStars brand). Additionally, they plan to offer sports betting at ResortsCasino.com “by fall 2018” in partnership with betting platform provider SBTech.
Seven Sportsbooks Now Operating in New Jersey
The opening of sportsbooks at Golden Nugget and Resorts brings the total number of NJ sportsbooks to seven as of today:
- Monmouth Park opened on June 14th
- Borgata AC opened on June 14th
- Ocean Resort AC opened on June 28th
- Meadowlands Racetrack opened on July 14th
- Bally’s Wild Wild West opened on July 30th
- Golden Nugget opened on August 15th
- Resorts AC opened on August 15th
If we add online betting to the list, we have an eight operator in the form of DraftKings Sportsbook, open since August 1st.
Mike Murphy is the founder of BettingUSA.com and has over 10 years of experience in the legal gambling industry. A regular attendee of industry trade shows and conferences, Mike is a strong proponent in the idea of a well regulated online betting industry.
