As Circa Sports is working on the refinement of its online gambling platform for the state of Illinois, the company hopes to successfully complete its licensing requirements and manage to open its sports betting service at the Temporary by American Place casino in Waukegan by the beginning of the next National Football League (NFL) season.
The director of operations at Circa Sports – Jeff Benson – has shared that he intends to make the Waukegan-based sportsbook operational by late August or early September 2023.
On June 15th, the Illinois Gaming Board granted the necessary approvals to open a sportsbook service at the Waukegan casino to both Full House Resorts, which owns the American Place casino, and Circa Sports. Apart from that, the senior vice president and chief development officer of Full House Resorts, Alex Stolyar, noted that, after four months in operation, the gambling facility now has additional table games and the right number of staff members to serve them. At the time when it started operation several months ago, the casino was licensed to feature 50 table games but opened with 28. Now there are 44 table games available to its customers.
Full House Resorts was officially authorized by the Illinois gambling regulatory body to operate its temporary facility in Waukegan for a period of three years while the company builds its permanent casino venue with an adjacent luxury hotel. On the other hand, Circa Sports was also given final permission to take the necessary steps to start offering both live and online sports betting services.
Now, Circa Sports will have to get its sportsbook platform up and running in order to complete the necessary tests so the Illinois Gaming Board officials can approve it. No board vote is required. Mr. Benson has confirmed that the preparation of the company’s online sports betting platform is already on track.
Sports Betting at the American Place Casino to Become Available by Late August or Early September
The sportsbook service operated by Circa Sports in Waukegan will be situated at the west end of the American Place casino and will feature 18 TV screens for visitors to watch various sports events at the same time. All National Football League games will be available to be watched at once on a given Sunday.
Customers can also integrate the online sportsbook platform with the live sports betting service. Patrons will be given the chance to sign up in person at the retail location or remotely for the online application.
According to Mr. Stolyar, the addition of the sports betting service will provide the operator with one more attraction for customers, who would be able to place a wager even while they play another game at the casino venue. He believes this would guarantee more added excitement, especially on game days and eventually help the operator make the American Place casino a more exciting destination.
The senior vice president and chief development officer of Full House Resorts further shared that he is not concerned about Bally’s plans to open a temporary casino in Chicago this August, saying that Full House Resorts does not see them as competition. As he explained, Des Plaines-based Rivers casino and Milwaukee-based Potawatomi casino are currently the direct competition of the American Place casino that started operation in February 2023.
