Las Vegas-based Circa Sports announced the launch of its mobile sportsbook in Kentucky, making the Bluegrass State the fifth domestic market in which the company is conducting online sports betting.
Late to the Party
Kentucky launched mobile sports betting on September 28, 2023, and eight mobile sportsbooks were granted temporary licenses including BetMGM, Caesars, Penn, DraftKings, Bet365, Fanatics, FanDuel and Circa Sports. Seven of those eight launched immediately but it took until April 1, 2024, seven months later, for Circa to launch.
Circa Sports’ mobile app is now live in Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, Illinois and now Kentucky. A retail sportsbook in Kentucky is already in the works, said Derek Stevens, Circa Sports CEO, “We will open our Circa Sports Kentucky mobile app first, and then we are going to build a retail sportsbook a bit further down the road. That’s going to happen towards the end of 2024,” he said at the time.
“The retail book will be located right on the Kentucky-Tennessee border. We’re very excited about the growth potential. There’s going to be a tremendous amount of wagering action coming out of Kentucky because it’s such a hotbed of sports for baseball, for basketball, for football. Kentucky’s going to be a great state for wagering.”
Although January’s figures have yet to be released, Kentucky has reported an average mobile handle of $269.2 million over the last quarter of 2023. FanDuel and DraftKings are dominating the market, as they routinely do throughout the nation, while the other five mobile sportsbooks have yet to break the $20 million handle threshold in November or December.
Doing Things Differently
Circa Sports’ owner Derek Stevens didn’t open his first casino until 2008 when he purchased downtown’s Golden Gate Hotel and Casino. Following that purchase, Stevens acquired another downtown property, Fitzgerald Hotel and Casino, and renamed it The D Las Vegas in 2012. However, his crown jewel, Circa Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, did not open its doors until 2020.
But the sports betting end of his empire only began in 2019 when he was granted approval by the Nevada Gaming Commission to operate his own sportsbooks. Stevens envisioned a throwback approach, remarking he wanted “old-school Las Vegas hospitality, where our guests and oddsmakers interact closely in a friendly and fun environment.”
Unlike many contemporary sportsbooks, Stevens’ concept was to welcome old-school big bettors, often called sharps, as well as the recreational small bettor. Stevens is taking a similar approach to his mobile betting side of the business.
“What we do differently than others is provide value to the wagering consumer. We don’t limit customers and we take big bets. We run our own model,” said Stevens.
Although Stevens has yet to complete his retail sportsbook in Kentucky, Circa has partnered with Full House Resorts to open a sportsbook in Waukegan, Illinois, which would be the company’s first brick-and-mortar location outside of Nevada. The Circa Sportsbook is currently operating in a temporary facility with the permanent location to be called American Place to be fully constructed by 2026.
