Consolidation among Las Vegas casinos is good for a lot of things, but one area that suffers is the city’s sports books.

The number of bets available and the variety of lines that was once the hallmark of the Las Vegas sports betting scene is all but gone. Executives at American Casino and Entertainment Properties—owner of the Stratosphere, Arizona Charlie’s Decatur and Boulder and the Aquarius in Laughlin—see the uniformity of the Strip’s sports books as an opportunity to stand out from the crowd.

In preparation for the upcoming football season—the most important couple of months for determining the success of a book for each year—ACEP officials, on the suggestion of the company’s public relations manager Michael Gilmartin, held a luncheon to get opinions on the promotions they plan to offer this year, and well into the future.

Writers who cover sports betting were invited to sit down and discuss what they like and don’t like about the city’s sports books, and what ACEP plans to do at its properties. Sports book manager Pat Rethore said to the best of his knowledge, bringing in outside sources to discuss race and sports book operations is something that has never been done before.

“We got some great ideas and some ideas that weren’t feasible,” Rethore said. “We’re trying to establish an identity with our variety and the number of bets we offer.”

“We wanted to hear what people are looking for in a race and sports book, and we wanted to see if we were heading in the right direction,” said Robert Jaynes, race and sports book director for the Stratosphere. The end result was very positive, and, Jaynes said, it was pretty clear that they are offering some nice opportunities to sports bettors.

The Stratosphere sports book will release the next week’s NFL numbers early on Sunday, before the evening game begins. Thursday nights, the book will offer half-vig on NCAA and NFL bets, including totals—and they will allow players to parlay these bets, too. The book will also allow bettors to put together parlays with teasers, something not found in many other books.

“Everybody is trying to follow the norm, but the norm doesn’t get it done anymore,” Rethore said. “We’re giving people a reason to come to our sports book.”

By Greg Jones

Greg Jones is managing editor of Casino Connection Nevada, as well as associate editor of Global Gaming Business magazine.

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