There were 10 cars already lined up at 11 a.m. Wednesday at South Point hotel-casino where sports book supervisors were poised to help sports gamblers deposit money in their South Point sports betting accounts or create new betting accounts in light of the return of live sports like UFC 249 in Jacksonville, Florida Saturday and upcoming NASCAR races in Darlington, South Carolina.
In fact, the line of cars stretched from three to 15 throughout the day until 6 p.m. as a handful of South Point sports book staffers, security guys and even an IT worker deployed social distancing to help the curbside sports gamblers who were stoked about getting back to betting on sports via the South Point betting apps and accounts. It’s mobile betting without the South Point sports book atmosphere — but at least it’s sports betting.
There’s no live betting on hotel properties these days in Las Vegas in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic. But this was the next best next thing for South Point, which has a 24-hour sports book and is known for its loyal sports betting customers. LVSportsBiz.com talked with South Point General Manager Ryan Growney about South Point serving the sports bettors at their cars today.
South Point GM Ryan Growney
LVSportsBiz.com: Was today the first day for South Point to talk to sports betting customers curbside? How did it go?
Ryan Growney: We started at 11 this morning. We didn’t take bets. You’re not allowed to take bets. South Point has a commitment to sports betting. We have a 24-hour sports book. We wanted to continue through the closure and now that sports are coming back with UFC Saturday and NASCAR races and our relationship with Las Vegas Motor Speedway, we wanted to help them bet on the phones and give them the opportunity to get the funds in their account. We released a bunch of NFL prop bets like, ‘Who will win the NFL championship?’ and ‘Who will the have the most passing yards and rushing yards’ and win totals.”
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LVSB: How many customers showed up and did any try to bet?
RG: You’re not allowed to bet on property. Phone wagering has been legal. But there hasn’t been sports to bet on until this Saturday (when UFC 249 is held.)
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LVSB: How many staffers did you have to help customers?
RG: The response was huge. We couldn’t throw a lot of bodies out there because of social distancing. We had three sports book supervisors on hand, an IT guy and a couple of security guards directing traffic. We needed to have a small staff for social distancing.
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LVSB: What was it like for the workers to see the sports book customers?
RG: It was great. We can’t wait for sports to come back. One of the guys said, ‘I’ve never wanted to make a bet more. This is my hobby. It’s my past time.’ They got to see Joe, they got to see Tom. You can tell they were dying to get back in.
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LVSB: How did South Point come up with this?
RG: We talked about this a week ago. This is the best option we came up with to comply with the health district, the gaming control board. The employees loved getting behind this, to make this happen for our customers. It was a lot of fun. We wanted to be the first.
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Here are the latest Nevada coronavirus numbers as of Wednesday.
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Alan Snel brings decades of sports-business reporting experience to LVSportsBiz.com.
Snel covered the business side of sports for the South Florida (Fort Lauderdale) Sun-Sentinel, the Tampa Tribune and Las Vegas Review-Journal. As a city hall beat reporter, Snel also covered stadium deals in Denver and Seattle.
In 2000, Snel launched a sport-business website for FoxSports.com called FoxSportsBiz.com.
After reporting sports-business for the RJ, Snel wrote hard-hitting stories on the Raiders stadium for the Desert Companion magazine in Las Vegas and The Nevada Independent.
Snel is also one of the top bicycle advocates in the country.
