West Virginia’s Greenbrier Partners With FanDuel For Sportsbook Services
West Virginia, as one of the first states to legalize sports betting in anticipation of the Supreme Court overturn of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA, 1992), is now nearing the starting gates for in-state sports wagering to go live. Tentatively slated for a September 1 launch, West Virginia’s first – and most exclusive – sports wagering experience on tap will be found at the luxurious, world-famous Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs.
Unlike many other venues nationwide looking to offer sports betting, The Greenbrier has partnered with FanDuel, the industry-leading Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) provider, for all their sportsbook logistics, figures, and platform technologies. While this makes a ton of sense (since fantasy sports is heavily reliant on statistical analysis and timely dissemination of completed game and in-game data), it’s a model that hasn’t been widely used so far.
Most casinos and racino venues pursuing sports betting in the post-PASPA world are either using established in-house bookmaking solutions (as many of these properties already have sportsbooks up and running in Nevada), but there are a number of “one-off” or “independent” casino brands that are creating partnerships with existing sportsbook operators in a synergistic, cost-cutting fashion. (Data-driven firms like William Hill, USBookmaking, GVC, Kambi, SBTech, and other companies are making major headwinds in the space primarily for this reason.)
One such casino brand – which is wholly unique in American gaming – is The Greenbrier. While companies like MGM can afford massive $200 million deals with sportsbook tech providers (which is the cost of their new partnership with the aforementioned GVC), The Greenbrier is a comparatively tiny operation and cannot even rationally consider spending that kind of cash (or anywhere near it) on getting their bookmaking product up and running. For this reason, The Greenbrier has bucked the current industry trend and entered into an agreement with FanDuel to do the heavy lifting behind the scenes.
While The Greenbrier’s partnership with FanDuel was the first for the DFS provider when it was reported back in June, it certainly wasn’t going to be the last, particularly with FanDuel competitor DraftKings recently inking a deal to provide sports betting services for the Del Lago Resort and Casino in Waterloo, NY, and Resorts Atlantic City in New Jersey (though this latter is limited to online sports betting branding). Case in point, FanDuel recently became the de facto sportsbook operator for The Meadowlands, with the famed NJ venue being home to FanDuel’s first active sportsbook product.
(Just a week ago, there were some issues related to the timing of payouts at The Meadowlands, as FanDuel’s cages closed at 1:00 AM, before many late-night west-coast games had finished up. This was quickly rectified and should not be a problem going forward, and FanDuel will learn from these small struggles so that their Greenbrier product will be as elite and classy as the West Virginia Resort housing it.)
All in all, it makes a lot of sense for FanDuel to be in the position it’s in, and scoring The Greenbrier partnership is a veritable coup for the brand. While the terms of the deal haven’t been made public, FanDuel’s acquisition by Paddy Power Betfair out of Dublin has all but guaranteed smooth sailing going forward.
Only one question remains: Will The Greenbrier’s FanDuel sportsbook be available statewide via an online component, or will the experience be limited to the exclusive Greenbrier venue itself?
Oh, and LegalGamblingUSA wonders will Greenbrier guests be able to place their wagers via mobile from The Bunker?
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