The Arizona Cardinals, Gila River Hotels and Casinos and New Jersey-based BetMGM have announced plans for four sportsbooks in the Phoenix area, including one at State Farm Stadium and three others at the tribe’s properties.
“Arizona sports fans are extremely passionate and we’re confident they’ll enjoy the BetMGM experience,” said BetMGM CEO Adam Greenblatt in a prepared statement. “Gila River Hotels & Casinos and the Arizona Cardinals represent the state’s premier casino destinations and sports franchise, making them the ideal partners for us.”
The three sportsbooks at the casinos are scheduled to open near the start of football season, when sports betting is scheduled to begin state-wide. The sportsbook at State Farm Stadium is not expected to be open until the 2022 season, according to the announcement.
Legislation passed earlier this year and signed by the governor allows for 10 sports-betting licenses available to teams, 10 to tribes and another 10 “limited” licenses for horse tracks and off-track betting sites that partner with one of the other licensees.
Gila River runs the Wild Horse Pass, Vee Quiva and Lone Butte Casinos near Chandler and south Phoenix, with plans for a fourth casino on its land eventually. The deal includes offering mobile sports betting through BetMGM.
The company is the sports-betting division for MGM Resorts International and is a partnership with Entain Holdings.
“This is a tremendous opportunity to build upon our long-standing relationship with Gila River and launch a new one with BetMGM,” Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill said in a prepared statement. “They are best-in-class partners whose excellence and expertise in this emerging space will provide a new and innovative way to engage and interact with our fans.”
Gila River Hotels & Casino CEO, Kenneth Manuel said, “Gila River Hotels & Casinos and the Arizona Cardinals have an everlasting partnership, offering guests exclusive experiences and remarkable rewards. As we explored our partner in sports betting, the unity with BetMGM, The King of Sportsbooks, ensures we deliver beyond all expectations. There is no doubt in my mind these three industry leading brands unifying will deliver the ultimate experience in Arizona sports betting, solidifying Gila River Hotels & Casinos as Arizona’s Sports HQ.”
Stephen Lewis, Governor of the Gila River Indian Community added, “This is an excellent development, and I want to thank Ken and his team for leading the way again for our Community on this innovative partnership with our great friends, the Cardinals, and our new partner BetMGM. Building on the successful launch of our new table games at Wild Horse Pass, this new sportsbetting operation will now continue our successful implementation of our historic new Compact arrangement.”
Expansion via gambling compacts
Along with the legislation allowing sports betting, the state entered amended compacts with tribes that allow them to offer more slots, table games and to build additional casinos and also allow each tribe to operate a retail sportsbook at each casino, but they will need one of the 10 available licenses to run mobile sports betting available off the reservation, according to Arizona Department of Gaming spokesman Maxwell Hartgraves.
“All tribes will have the ability to operate a sportsbook within their tribal casino through the amended tribal-state gaming compacts,” Hartgraves said. “Additionally, an event wagering operator license will allow a tribe to accept mobile wagers off-reservation.”
The Department of Gaming intends to announce who was granted licenses for mobile sports betting and off-reservation sportsbooks on Aug. 16.
If nothing holds up the timeline, then license holders should begin marketing and signing up customers from August 28, with the first bets being placed September 9 to coincide with the first game of the National Football League season.
Other partnerships announced in Arizona include:
- Phoenix Mercury and Bally’s Corp.
- Phoenix Suns and FanDuel Group.
- Arizona Diamondbacks and Caesars Entertainment.
- PGA Tour/TPC Scottsdale course and DraftKings Inc.
- Phoenix Raceway and Penn National’s Barstool Sportsbook.
- San Carlos Apache Tribe and WynnBET.
- Cliff Castle Casinos Hotel/Yavapai-Apache Nation and PointsBet Holdings.
- Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe and Kindred Group/Unibet.
- Tonto Apache Tribe (Mazatzal Hotel and Casino near Payson) and TwinSpires, owned by Churchill Downs.
