Tropicana Sportsbook Opens In Atlantic City

On Thursday, Tropicana opened its brand-new sportsbook to become the seventh Atlantic City Casino with sports betting and the ninth sportsbook in all of New Jersey. Local media had been reporting in recent days that a Tropicana Sportsbook was imminent, and that news turned out to be right on the money.

Inquirer.com reported on Thursday that a customer who lives nearby placed the Tropicana’s first bet: a $20 wager on the Lakers to win Thursday’s game against the Denver Nuggets. And just like that, Atlantic City has gained a new sportsbook.

Tropicana has opened a temporary facility near Chickie’s & Pete’s in the North Tower as it constructs a permanent sportsbook. Construction on the new sportsbook hasn’t yet started due to the Tropicana dropping its original plan to build the sportsbook on the second floor. Now, the Tropicana has plans to build the sportsbook near the North Bar.

Tropicana GM Steve Callender said on Thursday that he thinks the new sportsbook will be useful in expanding Tropicana’s target market.

“I think it brings in a new customer,” he told Philly.com. “Especially the millennials who grew up playing fantasy sports and might not want to play slot machines or table games, but they’ll bet games. And there’s an existing market that will give people something else to do. We’ve been waiting a long time for this.”

William Hill Sportsbook at Tropicana

Established international sports betting operator William Hill will be managing the sportsbook at Tropicana. Last month, William Hill reached a 25 year agreement with Eldorado Resorts to include retail, online and mobile sports betting.

Eldorado Resorts at the time was in the process of acquiring Tropicana Entertainment and Eldorado CEO Gary Carano said the deal would extend to the Tropicana once that transaction is completed. That transaction was confirmed done at the start of this month and William Hill did not waste time setting up shop at the Tropicana.

This is the third New Jersey casino or racetrack with which William Hill has set up shop. In addition to Tropicana sports betting, William Hill also operates the Monmouth Park Sportsbook and the Ocean Resort sportsbook.

Tropicana Online has not yet added sports betting to its NJ-licensed website, but that is likely in the works. William Hill has long operated in the online space internationally and in New Jersey is partnered with both Ocean Resort Casino and Monmouth Park to offer online betting under the William Hill banner at William Hill NJ.

Given William Hill’s extensive experience online and its quick pivot to online wagering in the US, the likelihood of a Tropicana Online Sportsbook is greater than zero. However, neither the Tropicana nor William Hill have confirmed any plans to launch a new sportsbook.

In all, there are eight online or mobile sportsbooks in New Jersey today. Tropicana could very well make it nine if they decide to launch a separate sportsbook in conjunction with William Hill. Hard Rock Casino and the Kindred Group have also announced plans to launch online betting in the near future, possibly under the Hard Rock AC or Unibet brand.