Later on today the Pennsylvania Casino Control Board will be meeting and will, it is expected, give the green light for the change of ownership of the Presque Isle Downs & Casino, which if given will see Churchill Downs taking over control of the property.
The new owners will of course be eager to have a sportsbook facility available within the casino, and it was in December of last year that an application was submitted to the Casino Control Board to obtain a license to operate a sportsbook within the casino.
February is when the application is expected to be discussed and approved by the Casino Control Board, and plans are already in place once that approval is forthcoming to build a sportsbook on the gaming floor, which it has been suggested is going to be located in an area of the gaming floor that currently has the worst performing slot machines.
In addition to the physical sportsbook, it is also planned that they will launch an online sportsbook and a mobile betting app that will be available to anybody over the age of 21 who is within the state boundaries.
Sports betting has already proven to be popular and it would seem profitable in the state. The Hollywood Casino, located just outside Harrisburg, which was one of the first casinos to be granted a sports betting license, generated some half a million dollars of income from their newly opened sportsbook in just two weeks of opening.
There is a fee to be paid by any land based casino wishing to apply for a sports betting license, which isn’t cheap, for that license fee is some $10 million and the law states the fee must be paid in full two months after approval is granted and before any newly licensed sportsbook opens.