LAS VEGAS -- There is a party going on outside the New York-New York Hotel and Casino. It's Oct. 10, a little over two hours before the Vegas Golden Knights will play their first home game at the adjacent T-Mobile Arena, and members of their ice crew, drumline and front office are joining fans underneath the faux Brooklyn Bridge for a short march to the arena. On the way, they will high-five fans filling the bars and restaurants at The Park, an outdoor area lined with trees, waterfalls and restaurants between New York-New York and Monte Carlo, with a pathway that leads directly to the arena.
Inside the New York-New York, I'm the only one sitting in the closest sportsbook to the T-Mobile Arena. It's not particularly large, but considering one floor of the New York-New York parking garage is connected to the arena, it's the most convenient pit stop for fans on their way to the game.
I walked up to the teller before leaving for the game to place a small wager on the Golden Knights to win their home opener, as a memento more than anything else. As he punched in my bet and took my money, I asked him how the action was on the game.
"Pretty light," he said. "Mostly small bets like yours."
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman had wanted betting options on Golden Knights home games removed from the New York-New York and Monte Carlo, MGM properties adjacent to the arena, but he and the league ultimately decided not to make the request. "I didn't know what to expect ,but I figured if you're bringing a team to Vegas, you embrace Vegas for everything Vegas is, and that includes the fact that we take bets on sporting events here," said MGM vice president of race and sports Jay Rood. "I never thought that was going to be an issue. I've never had a conversation with anyone that would lead me to be concerned about that. Most of the action we took on the Golden Knights home game was actually at locations that weren't next to the arena."
Rood said bets taken at the New York-New York and Monte Carlo sportsbooks for that game were less than the ones taken at the MGM Grand, Bellagio, The Mirage, Mandalay Bay and Aria.
That wasn't a surprise to Jay Kornegay, the vice president of race and sports operations at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, who attended the Golden Knights home opener as a fan.
"The proximity really doesn't matter," Kornegay said. "Of the people that are attending the game, probably less than 1 percent have a bet on it. People think everyone in Vegas has a bet on these games, and it's not true at all. I go to UNLV games, and we've been booking their games for 17 years now. I've watched it closely and talked to people, and it's rare you find someone at the game who bet the game.
"I went to the first Golden Knights home game, and no one I talked to knew what the line was or had made a bet on the game. They're two different crowds. You have gamblers at the sportsbooks, and you have fans at the games. The people who are going to the games are true fans, just like in any other city."
While there was no one at the New York-New York sportsbook two hours before the Golden Knights' first home game, there were a handful of people at the Monte Carlo sportsbook. But they were more interested in the horse races taking place across the country than the hockey game taking place across the street.
That doesn't mean the first Golden Knights home game wasn't a popular bet for locals and tourists alike compared to other hockey games going on that night, but there wasn't this mass rush to the sportsbook to wager on a game because it was taking place in Las Vegas.
"We tracked transactions on that first home game, and the transactions for the Golden Knights game was probably four times as many as the next NHL game," Rood said. "It was nothing significant. We didn't really have a strong handle for it. Our decision was a small five-figure decision, which is generally the case for most hockey games, but there were quite a bit of recreational and small plays. There was definitely an uptick in the amount of tickets compared to other hockey games on that night. I think in the short-term you're going to see more action on their games, but it will eventually level off to a normal level with the rest of the league."
Fans at the Golden Knights game inside of T-Mobile Arena could also place bets on their phone during the game. MGM and the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook are just two of the sportsbooks in Las Vegas that have mobile applications, which allow fans to make wagers on their mobile device, but fans using the service are probably more likely to make a wager on a game in New York than the one taking place in front of them in Las Vegas.
"The activity on the app was about 20 percent of what the over-the-counter activity was, so it was relatively small and the actually in-game activity was even smaller," Rood said. "In-game betting in the United States in general is not nearly as popular as it is overseas, but it really doesn't matter if you're at the game or next to the arena if you're using the app. You can place a wager on any game, anywhere."
There was a time when you needed to go to a sportsbook to place a wager on a game. That was back when placing a team in Las Vegas was a non-starter for professional sports leagues. But the ease in which you can now place a bet on games from your phone or mobile device has eliminated the need to go to a sportsbook and lifted the stigma around Las Vegas, which is in the midst of adding three professional sports teams in a 16-month period.
"There was this perception for years that we buy our groceries at The Mirage and everyone in this city bets on games, and it's just not true," Kornegay said. "I would easily say there's more people inside Madison Square Garden betting [with illegal operators] on the New York Rangers games than there are at T-Mobile Arena betting [legally] on the Golden Knights. I can just as easily get on my phone at Madison Square Garden and place a wager during the game. It's taken the leagues a while to figure it out, but Las Vegas is no different than any other sports town."