| Drive-Through
Gambling
Two sports
books offer drive-through windows to accept wagers from people on the go
So it's 110 degrees out, you're on
your way to work and there's an 11 a.m. baseball game you're dying to bet on.
Never fear. Two local casinos have
made placing a sports wager quick and painless, thanks to an innovation borrowed from
burger joints and banks - the drive-through window.
The Imperial Palace and the Fiesta
offer a convenient way to lay down bets without having to park the car or even set foot in
the casino, to say nothing of standing in lines inside. "It's got a regular
following," said Bobby Choquette, a sports book supervisor at the Imperial Palace.
"A lot of people who live in the neighborhood use it, especially on their way home
(from work). We get a lot of praise for it."
Football season has long been the
busiest time of year for local books, and that's no exception at the drive-throughs. But
officials at both the IP and Fiesta acknowledge that the summer months, with their
combination of scorching heat and day baseball, also draw hordes of car-bound
bettors.
"We get an extra rush because of
those (day baseball) games with people going to work or taking the kids to school,"
said Mark Nelson, director of race & sports at the Fiesta.
The Imperial Palace got things started back in 1991, opening the area's first
drive-through sports book behind its hotel, on Koval Lane.
Four years later, the Fiesta followed
suit, offering a drive-through option outside its North Las Vegas casino, christened
"Sports on the Run." Those two are still the only drive-through books in
town, with space limitations preventing most Las Vegas casinos from adding the
service.
According to sports book supervisors
at both casinos, the two drive-throughs have thrived since Day 1, attracting a devoted
following of local sports bettors.
"It's worked well for us,"
Nelson said. "We get a lot of business that we probably wouldn't get
otherwise."
At the Imperial Palace, bets are made
in person, with a live book attendant stationed at the window. The latest lines are posted
outside, and a second lane is opened for busy days during the football season.
"A lot of people plan on watching
the games at home, not in the book," Choquette said. "We make it real convenient
for them to get a bet down and get home."
At the Fiesta, drive-through bets are
made bank-style, with money and betting slips going between customers and book attendants
through tubes along each of the three lanes. Overhead television screens give patrons the
latest lines, and two-way speakers allow for conversations between patrons and
attendants.
"We communicate with our
customers on every transaction," Nelson said. "They can get pretty much
everything outside that they can get inside."
One thing Fiesta and Imperial Palace
drive-up customers can't do outside is cash a winning ticket - something they are required
to do in person inside.
"That's the only time you have to
go in, when you cash tickets," said Michael McDermott, a local resident who frequents
the Fiesta's drive-through at least four times a week. "I usually wait until the end
of the week, and they cash all my tickets inside at once."
Customers also can't bet on horse
racing from their cars, with both casinos only offering that option in the book itself.
[Original
source: Las Vegas Sun]
Kids are
welcome
Las Vegan Michael Hearon relies on the
Fiesta's drive-through because he can make his sports bets with his kids in the car.
Although the casino requires a driver's license from drive-up bettors, kids are not barred
from the drive-through as they are the sports book.
To the contrary, if Fiesta employees
spot children in the car via the casino's security cameras, they generally send something
sweet back with the bettors' tickets and change.
"They make the kids stay outside the casino, but I can come through with them out
here," Hearon said. "Plus, my son gets candy."
But according to Carol O'Hare,
executive director of the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling, that may not be all children
are getting at the drive-through. Drive-through betting raises the moral issue of
exposing children to gambling at an early age.
Drive-throughs are not the only option
for bettors hoping to avoid the casino. These days, sports wagers can be made by phone or
computer, with several books in town offering those services for regulars.
But for local sports bettors who
prefer the city's streets to the information superhighway, drive-throughs provide a
valuable, easy service.
"I'm surprised more casinos don't
do it," Hearon said. "If other casinos would do it, they'd get a lot more
business - at least their sports books would."
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