Casino Windsor is first in area to offer wagers on events
Joel J. Smith / The Detroit News
WINDSOR -- Casino Windsor will begin offering sports betting next Friday -- marking the first time Metro Detroiters will have access to live sports wagering.
Looking to tap the sports and gambling passions of its American neighbors, the riverfront casino is opening a multimillion-dollar, 170-seat sports lounge, where gamblers can wager on pro football, basketball, hockey and baseball games, as well as college football and basketball.
'This is a wonderful, new amenity for us,' Holly Ward, Casino Windsor spokeswoman, told The Detroit News on Thursday. 'It's going to be a great place for people to watch sporting events while wagering on the games.'
Gaming experts expect the Legends Sports Lounge, which took seven months to build, will be a major draw.
'This will be super attractive,' said Jacob L. Miklojcik, president of Michigan Consultants, a gaming expert. 'This is dynamite for Windsor Casino. I think that live betting during football and basketball seasons will be tremendous.'
While this is a first for Windsor, sports betting is available at casinos in other regions of Canada. Casino Niagara in Niagara Falls, Ontario, recently opened a $10 million sports betting lounge.
While gambling on sports is illegal in most U.S. states, many Midwesterners travel to Las Vegas to wager on sports. And like any major U.S. city, Detroit has its share of illegal sports gambling through local bookmakers.
Sports wagering totaled $1.88 billion in Nevada in 2004, said Michael Pollock, publisher of the Gaming Industry Observer.
'In the U.S., outside of Nevada, the industry doesn't really exist,' Pollock said. 'It certainly draws people to Nevada. Essentially, it's a chance for Casino Windsor to reach a new market. It might be able to carve out a niche for itself by reaching many of the sports fans in the whole Detroit area.'
Casino Windsor's new lounge includes 36 video display terminals that will feature sporting events. It will offer a stadium-style menu featuring hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken wings.
Gamblers can choose between a variety of betting options. They can make traditional wagers on which team will cover the point spread. They can also bet on the 'over/under,' in which gamblers wager that the combined points scored by both teams will be above or below a certain number.
And like in Vegas, gamblers can bet on more specific outcomes, such as total number of yards gained in a football game or the number of three-point shots made in a basketball match-up. The casino will have its own odds makers.
Don Pister, manager of public relations for the Ontario Lottery Gaming Corp. that owns Casino Windsor, said gamblers will be required to place three bets at a time.
Casino Windsor will reveal more details -- including the betting limit -- next Friday when it opens.
'The idea is to attract Americans across the border to Casino Windsor,' Pister said. 'Casinos are a competitive business. It is one more thing we can do to make Casino Windsor as attractive as we can.'
Casino Windsor, which is in the midst of a major expansion, is locked in a fierce competition with Detroit's three casinos, which are not permitted to offer sports betting.
The Detroit casinos, however, have attracted thousands of gamblers from Windsor since Ontario banned smoking on May 30.
Some critics have said that sports gambling shouldn't be allowed in areas where big-time sports are played, because it invites problems.
However, Tom Lewand, the Lions' chief operating officer, said Windsor's entry into sports gambling isn't a major concern for the team.
'Obviously, Las Vegas has sports books, and that's in our country,' Lewand said before Thursday night's Lions-Bills game at Ford Field. 'While the geographic proximity is closer, the international borders are such that we can't control what Canada does. With the proliferation of online gaming, I'm not sure we should be in any position to have any undue concern. Obviously, we're not proponents of sports books in any way, shape or fashion.'
Folks from Michigan and the upper Midwest have a reputation for being passionate about their sports -- and they place the bets to back it up, said Jay Kornegay, manager of the Las Vegas Hilton sports book. 'You can always tell whenever we have teams playing from that region.'
The Casino Windsor betting lounge will be open from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday, Sunday and holidays