Arizona’s Casino Del Sol opens Tucson’s first retail sportsbook

The first retail sportsbook in Tucson, Arizona will officially go live to the public on Thursday after Casino Del Sol opened their Sol Sports with a ribbon-cutting and a blessing Wednesday, stating that “people don’t need to travel far now to get the big casino, sports gambling, and poker experience”.

“Today is a beautiful, beautiful day,” said Peter Yucupicio, Chairman of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe that runs the casino. “We finally get to unwrap, as you’d say, for this holiday season, this new sports betting area.”

"(You) don’t need to go to Vegas, don’t need to go to Atlantic City, and you certainly don’t need to do it on a mobile app,” said John Collins, Sportsbook director of Casino Del Sol.

Although it is the first retail sportsbook in the Tucson area, it joins a list of retail sports betting locations across the state. Revenues so far won’t be known until November 29, however, early fantasy sports betting data shows that in the last four days of August alone, fantasy sports betting brought in more than $175,000 dollars just in in-state entry fees.

“This keeps the revenue here in Tucson, and Southern Arizona, and Arizona itself, and that’s the beauty of having these sports betting facilities throughout Southern Arizona and the state,” said Chairman Yucupicio.

They expect that the revenue increase will boost the economy and help create more local jobs.

“We have about 20 employees, when you add the additional food and beverage and other amenities, it’s probably supporting 30 full-time employees,” said Kim Van Amburg, CEO at Casino Del Sol, reports Kold News 13.

COVID-19 delayed openings, but the casino said they wanted to wait until everything was finished to unveil the new room, complete with chairs, spreads on the games, and several TVs.