The Meadows Casino in Washington will launch its sportsbook Thursday, Oct. 10, according to a statement from the casino.
This makes The Meadows the tenth legal, brick-and-mortar sports betting facility in Pennsylvania.
“It’s a fantastic day for The Meadows Casino, our team members, guests and Washington County” said Tony Frabbiele, vice president and general manager of The Meadows. “We are excited to bring this new amenity to The Meadows and are looking forward to the thrill and excitement of sports wagering.”
The sportsbook will be located in the casino space in an area previously branded as Vibe, according to the statement.
It will include 15 ultra high-definition televisions, 18 self-serve betting kiosks, five ticket windows and a 26-seat bar with a full dining menu.
The Meadows will hold two days of test runs, open to the public with limited operating hours, Tuesday, Oct. 8 from 4 to 11 p.m. and Wednesday, Oct. 9 from 4 to 11 p.m.
Provided the state Gaming Control Board signs off on operations following the test run, The Meadows will hold an official ribbon cutting Thursday — just in time to collect bets for Thursday night football, said Kevin Brogan, vice president of marketing at The Meadows.
Former Steelers players Mel Blount and Rocky Bleier, former Penguins Bryan Trottier and Pierre Larouche along with former Pirate John Candelaria are all expected to attend the ribbon cutting, according to a statement from The Meadows.
Normal operating hours, 10 a.m. to midnight, will then commence Friday, Brogan said.
The Meadows sportsbook is one of three facilities taking legal sports bets in Western Pennsylvania.
Rivers Casino on Pittsburgh’s North Shore first opened a temporary sports book in December 2018. The casino launched a newly renovated, $5 million permanent space Monday.
Presque Isle Downs Casino in Erie opened a sportsbook in July.
Sports betting handle — the dollar amount of bets placed — collected by online and brick-and-mortar Pennsylvania sportsbooks hit a new monthly record in August, taking in about $109 million, according to figures provided by the state Gaming Control Board.
That’s an 84% increase over the previous record of $59.3 million, which was set in July, according to analysts with sports betting site PlayUSA.com, which tracks sports betting developments across the country.
“Sports bettors almost universally bet on football, so it is no surprise that even with just one full week of college football games and NFL futures to bet on, that Pennsylvania would experience a significant uptick,” Jessica Welman, a sports betting analyst for PlayUSA.com, said in a September analysis of Pennsylvania’s sports betting market. “But with the NFL season now underway and more sportsbooks online, August’s successes are just a precursor to much bigger things ahead.”
Pennsylvaia collected about $2.2 million in taxes from sports wagering revenue in August and about $1 million in July, according to state Gaming Control Board figures.
Since launching in November 2018, Pennsylvania sports books have generated about $11.2 million in tax dollars for the state, according to figures complied by PlayUSA.com.
In comparison, New Jersey sportsbooks have generated about $28.9 million in tax dollars launching in June 2018, according to PlayUSA.com figures.
We moderate comments. Our goal is to provide substantive commentary for a general readership. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information.
While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderating decisions are subjective. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can. Because of the volume of reader comments, we cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.
We value thoughtful comments representing a range of views that make their point quickly and politely. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments either by the same reader or different readers
We follow the same standards for taste as the daily newspaper. A few things we won’t tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING. Don’t include URLs to Web sites.
We do not edit comments. They are either approved or deleted. We reserve the right to edit a comment that is quoted or excerpted in an article. In this case, we may fix spelling and punctuation.
We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we don’t want comments to become bogged down with discussions of our policies and we will moderate accordingly.