In two years time Nevada’s sportsbook industry will look very different to its current state with many more visitors deciding to transact by mobile devices. That’s according to Jay Kornegay, LVH sportsbook director, who recently told CalvinAyre.com’s Rebecca Liggero of his expectations of the nation’s largest sportsbetting market.
“Technology in that area is making it more convenient for sports bettors to play and gamble. The mobile app will be the key,” Kornegay told CalvinAyre.com. “That’s where everything is headed and I expect every book to have that application in two to three years time.”
Some companies in Nevada have already started to invest in mobile technology with the likes of Cantor Gaming and Station Casinos already offering customers the chance to bet inside Nevada using smart phones and tablet devices. With William Hill also entering the Nevada market it won’t be long until mobile sports betting takes Nevada by storm much like it has done in Europe.
Technology has been huge for the sports betting industry as a whole in Nevada, the bettors one of the main parties to have benefited with a huge amount of knowledge on sports that before simply wasn’t easily available.
“I’ve noticed the bettors have continued to get better,” Kornegay said. “ With all the information they have access to they can do a lot of reading and become smarter. We have had to sharpen up our numbers over the years as the players have been getting better and better.”
Sports betting still remains, if you believe the leagues, very much a minority activity in the United States with most of the legal sports betting taking place within the borders of Nevada. In terms of expansion of regulated sports betting, Kornegay is in favor just so long as it’s organized in a similar way to their market.
“As long as it’s regulated and policed like it is in Nevada then I have no problem with it,” Kornegay said.
One of the big problems in the United States is getting the attitudes of the leagues, as well as some fans, to change as far as sports betting is concerned. Many still link betting to issues involving integrity and Kornegay admitted that when a “crooked game” happens it “doesn’t sit well with a lot of people in the country”. What’s the solution to changing these attitudes, apart from the establishment of solid regulatory regimes then?
“We do need to educate the higher ups. The more they’re educated about what we do, the more they will accept the expansion,” Kornegay said.
Kornegay thinks that a visit to Nevada to see how the sportsbook work would “put their minds at rest” and it might even mean the leagues choosing to abandon their lawsuit in New Jersey. This is unlikely given the control issues that would still remain but Nevada for one is all for expansion.
