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Publicity and promotions involving race and sports books have been around for over a quarter of a century now and it seems as though the end is not in sight.
At first, the race and sports book was simply the stepchild of the casino operation and laid dormant until a few operators finally had some vision and saw the potential of getting mainstream America involved in that department. As a youngster in Vegas, the race and sports book was a niche that only a few traveled. If you had to credit anyone to get the word out on how to capitalize on this exciting environment, however, it would have to go to Bill Freidman and Michael Gaughan.
Bill Freidman was in charge of the Castaways (where the Mirage now sits) and Michael Gaughan (who is the CEO of Coast Resorts) operated a little joint between the Stardust and the Hilton, which was called the Royal Inn Casino. At that time, in the mid 70's, the Castaways sports book was run by Sonny Reizner and the Royal Inn sports book was where I got my feet wet in charge of the little operation we had there.
The only other two casinos that had sports books were the Plaza and the Stardust (they also had race books, but neither one of us was yet involved in the races).
Not knowing that the other one was getting ready to launch a contest, it is rather unique (even after 25 years) that the basis of both contests are still in vogue today and are immensely popular.
Sonny and Bill's idea was more of a handicapping contest that involved semi-smart to smart guys, as point-spreads were implemented in your selections. Some of the early contestants and winners are still widely known for their achievements way back when. People like Russ Culver, Keith Glantz, Tony Salinas, and Gary Austin were banging heads and opinions a long time ago.
The contest was successful from day one because it had done everything that Bill and Sonny thought it would do. It brought instant credibility to sports wagering because it was backed by a casino and, most importantly, it made the Castaways a must-stop every week just to see the picks by the guys. Everybody stopped by and the average Joe started asking questions about the contest and how it worked. It was a home run and today's contests, such as the Hilton and other properties that employ a point-spread, have both Sonny and Bill to thank.
Michael Gaughan had a different approach. After a year of opening up our little book we had a lot of success but Michael wanted more. He saw the potential of reaching people who normally would not leave their house to make a sports bet, but enjoyed watching sports. His biggest audience was "women."
Make it a bargain and make it easy, and we had a winner. That is when "pick the pros" was born.
The buy-in a for season's worth of fun with big payouts on the back end was easy, but how do we make it simple enough for a first time bettor to understand? Big Mikes idea was ingenious. No point-spread ----just pick the winner.
At first I thought it sounded too easy, but quickly learned that besides not being that easy it was the only way possible that this thing would get the results that it was intended to get.
We signed up over 6,000 people the first year and nearly doubled that the following year. I understand now that various contests in the city have almost 150,000 people who fill some type of contest card out every week. You cannot turn around anywhere, either here or offshore, without some entity (like ESPN) who
does not sponsor some sort of contest. The truth of the matter is that the basic premise for each contest can be traced back to the humble beginnings of these first two entries on the sports betting scene.
It's amazing that, at the time, neither property knew of the other one's intentions; just goes to show yah.
So what was the intention then is basically the same intention as now. Bring visibility to your property and milk all the pub you can from it. Most contests now are loss leaders, but are included into their marketing budget so it dwarfs the overall cost in marketing the whole property, so it fits in.
The Stardust Invitational, which is in its eighth year, does exactly what the intent is.
It is not expensive to do. The race and sports book is a natural setting where first-time viewers always stop and ask questions. It is on the KDWN radio station, which is a 50,000 watt station that blasts into 13 states. Now it is also on the internet. The hosts do an excellent job in moving the show along and, at times, ask both pertinent and humorous questions.
Nowadays every gambling site on the web does stories of each week's match-ups and results. It is like 16 weeks of free advertising; and yes, every other contest that lives and breathes can be found on the web.
So the contests have come a long way, with trial and error finally smoothing everything out to where we are right now.
How far can they go from here is anyone's guess.
I am sure that there were doubters way back then, but I guess we showed them now, didn't we?
Thanks again for the great response.
Take care and keep in touch,
Jimmy V
This article is courtesy of Don Best Sports, the industry leader in live lines service. Please visit our website at www.DonBest.com to get the latest odds, scores, lines, and sports information.
At first, the race and sports book was simply the stepchild of the casino operation and laid dormant until a few operators finally had some vision and saw the potential of getting mainstream America involved in that department. As a youngster in Vegas, the race and sports book was a niche that only a few traveled. If you had to credit anyone to get the word out on how to capitalize on this exciting environment, however, it would have to go to Bill Freidman and Michael Gaughan.
Bill Freidman was in charge of the Castaways (where the Mirage now sits) and Michael Gaughan (who is the CEO of Coast Resorts) operated a little joint between the Stardust and the Hilton, which was called the Royal Inn Casino. At that time, in the mid 70's, the Castaways sports book was run by Sonny Reizner and the Royal Inn sports book was where I got my feet wet in charge of the little operation we had there.
The only other two casinos that had sports books were the Plaza and the Stardust (they also had race books, but neither one of us was yet involved in the races).
Not knowing that the other one was getting ready to launch a contest, it is rather unique (even after 25 years) that the basis of both contests are still in vogue today and are immensely popular.
Sonny and Bill's idea was more of a handicapping contest that involved semi-smart to smart guys, as point-spreads were implemented in your selections. Some of the early contestants and winners are still widely known for their achievements way back when. People like Russ Culver, Keith Glantz, Tony Salinas, and Gary Austin were banging heads and opinions a long time ago.
The contest was successful from day one because it had done everything that Bill and Sonny thought it would do. It brought instant credibility to sports wagering because it was backed by a casino and, most importantly, it made the Castaways a must-stop every week just to see the picks by the guys. Everybody stopped by and the average Joe started asking questions about the contest and how it worked. It was a home run and today's contests, such as the Hilton and other properties that employ a point-spread, have both Sonny and Bill to thank.
Michael Gaughan had a different approach. After a year of opening up our little book we had a lot of success but Michael wanted more. He saw the potential of reaching people who normally would not leave their house to make a sports bet, but enjoyed watching sports. His biggest audience was "women."
Make it a bargain and make it easy, and we had a winner. That is when "pick the pros" was born.
The buy-in a for season's worth of fun with big payouts on the back end was easy, but how do we make it simple enough for a first time bettor to understand? Big Mikes idea was ingenious. No point-spread ----just pick the winner.
At first I thought it sounded too easy, but quickly learned that besides not being that easy it was the only way possible that this thing would get the results that it was intended to get.
We signed up over 6,000 people the first year and nearly doubled that the following year. I understand now that various contests in the city have almost 150,000 people who fill some type of contest card out every week. You cannot turn around anywhere, either here or offshore, without some entity (like ESPN) who
does not sponsor some sort of contest. The truth of the matter is that the basic premise for each contest can be traced back to the humble beginnings of these first two entries on the sports betting scene.
It's amazing that, at the time, neither property knew of the other one's intentions; just goes to show yah.
So what was the intention then is basically the same intention as now. Bring visibility to your property and milk all the pub you can from it. Most contests now are loss leaders, but are included into their marketing budget so it dwarfs the overall cost in marketing the whole property, so it fits in.
The Stardust Invitational, which is in its eighth year, does exactly what the intent is.
It is not expensive to do. The race and sports book is a natural setting where first-time viewers always stop and ask questions. It is on the KDWN radio station, which is a 50,000 watt station that blasts into 13 states. Now it is also on the internet. The hosts do an excellent job in moving the show along and, at times, ask both pertinent and humorous questions.
Nowadays every gambling site on the web does stories of each week's match-ups and results. It is like 16 weeks of free advertising; and yes, every other contest that lives and breathes can be found on the web.
So the contests have come a long way, with trial and error finally smoothing everything out to where we are right now.
How far can they go from here is anyone's guess.
I am sure that there were doubters way back then, but I guess we showed them now, didn't we?
Thanks again for the great response.
Take care and keep in touch,
Jimmy V
This article is courtesy of Don Best Sports, the industry leader in live lines service. Please visit our website at www.DonBest.com to get the latest odds, scores, lines, and sports information.