Well there’s a headline you probably never imagined reading.
Related: Three of the world’s most luxurious casinos
Five years ago, you’d be laughed out of every bar in North America for even positing that betting lounges would ever make their way inside NFL stadiums. But times are changing. With 29 states now legalizing some form of sports betting (and more warming to the idea), a number of the NFL’s 32 teams either have or plan to implement betting lounges within their gates.
Wynn Field Club, Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas
While retail sportsbooks are still prohibited and there will be no physical betting windows, these lounges will showcase mobile betting options, with up-to-the-minute news on odds, injuries, spreads, and anything else bettors need to be informed before wagering their cash. They also come stocked with every amenity imaginable, from DJ booths to exclusive access to press conferences. Let’s take a look at how teams around the league are working within these new parameters, starting in the only logical place. Vegas.
Sports betting: Wynn Field Club – Allegiant Stadium – Home of the Las Vegas Raiders
In some ways, it’s poetic that the first season in which the NFL has (somewhat) embraced betting is also the first season in which fans can watch the Las Vegas Raiders in person. After playing to empty seats in the team’s inaugural season in Sin City, the NFL’s latest opulent mecca – Allegiant Stadium – opened its doors to the public in 2021.
When the team played in Oakland, the end zone area of the stadium was known as The Black Hole. Fans dressed in full Raider garb beckoned opposing players to take one step closer, as they supported their team with a ferocity rarely seen across the league.
In Vegas, the vibe in the endzone is decidedly different. Forget frenzied fans dressed in caked-on face paint. The endzone at Allegiant Stadium is home to the Wynn Field Club, a nightclub/bar built at field level just behind the north endzone. Two DJ booths, a 45,000 watt sound system and bottle service are among the amenities, with plenty of screens and tickers for you to keep an eye on the action across the league. Only in Vegas could Derek Carr end up throwing a football onto a dancefloor.
FOX Bet Lounge – Lincoln Financial Field – Home of the Philadelphia Eagles
Never ones to hide their passion for their team, Eagles fans will have a new way to watch Jalen Hurts and crew in the FOX Bet Lounge at Lincoln Financial Field.
Operating on a membership basis, the sports betting lounge comes packed with wall-to-wall TVs, along with a fully stocked bar and myriad food options.
Members get to use a private entrance to enter the stadium and get to witness players arrive on gameday.
FOX Bet Lounge
A little closer to kickoff, fans in the lounge can yell all the obscenities they want as they get an unfettered view of the opposing team’s walkout to the field. After the action, lounge members can watch the Eagles at the podium as they field questions from the media.
Five years ago, you’d be laughed out of every bar in North America for even positing that betting lounges would ever make their way inside NFL stadiums. But times are changing.
WynnBET Sports Bar – Ford Field – Home of the Detroit Lions
With the Lions not putting the best product on the field right now, who could blame someone for spending the majority of time at Ford Field drowning sorrows and getting in on some action from around the league?
Easily accessible from Toronto and a beautiful facility in and of itself, Ford Field is a major player in the revival of downtown Detroit. The WynnBET Sports Bar is just the latest amenity to be added inside, with live betting lines plastered all over its screens to ensure that no opportunity is missed to cash in. WynnBET brand ambassadors will also be on site to assist.
Ford Field, Detroit
WynnBET’s sponsorship of the lounge is emblematic of another major shift going on in the relationship between sports betting and the NFL. Whereas in seasons past displaying branding from betting entities was not allowed, the league has now embraced companies like WynnBET and the added revenue they bring.
WynnBET Club – Lucas Oil Stadium – Home of the Indianapolis Colts
Speaking of WynnBET, the company has also set up shop in Indy. Just like their lounge in Detroit, the WynnBET Club inside The House that Peyton Built comes complete with every tidbit of sports betting knowledge you need to make informed decisions right at your fingertips.
You might even run into legendary Colt Robert Mathis. A Super Bowl champion and five-time Pro Bowler, Mathis signed on with WynnBET as a brand ambassador and will appear at select events.
Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis
Sports betting: Future lounges
With more and more states now seeing betting as their friend rather than an enemy, don’t be surprised if you start seeing more and more of these lounges pop up across the football world. BetMGM, along with Gila River Hotels & Casinos, has partnered with the Arizona Cardinals to open up a lounge in State Farm Stadium in time for the 2022 season.
BetMGM has also linked up with the Denver Broncos to open a lounge at Empower Field at Mile High. Complete with a full-service bar, the area will promote mobile betting on the company’s app.
New York Giants and New York Jets are next
But perhaps the biggest fish in the pond is New York. Or rather, New Jersey. While the state of New York has been a bit slower to legalize sports betting, New Jersey is the pioneer in the space. The state took the issue to the Supreme Court in May 2018 and won, paving the way for the rest of the 49 states in the union to handle the issue as they see fit. With the New York Giants and New York Jets playing in East Rutherford, N.J. rather than in their namesake state, it would only be right for MetLife Stadium to get in on the fun. They will in the near future, with Fubo Sportsbook planning on opening a space within the stadium’s cavernous confines.
With sports betting slowly morphing from a game played in the shadows to an unapologetically marketed money-maker for fans and companies alike, amenity-filled spaces to take place in this Sunday hobby will likely continue to grow. In the span of four years, we’ve gone from sports betting being a term you’d have to whisper to a sportsbook-sponsored nightclub planted in an NFL endzone in the gambling capital of the world. If this is just the beginning, it’s anyone’s guess as to what could come next.
