Mohegan Sun soft opens permanent FanDuel Sportsbook for Super Bowl

Mohegan Sun's permanent FanDuel Sportsbook had a soft opening Thursday, nearly five months since the first legal sports bet in Connecticut was placed at the casino's temporary sportsbook, and just in time for Sunday's Super Bowl.

Jeff Hamilton, Mohegan Sun’s president and general manager, led Thursday morning's opening, saying the casino dispensed with the fanfare that usually surrounds such debuts because the $8 million facility isn’t quite finished. A grand opening is scheduled for March 5. “Our goal was to get open for the Super Bowl and we’re about 90% there,” he said, as reported by The Day.

“When we opened up over here this morning, it was kind of turnkey, which was nice,” said Brad Bryant, general manager for the Mohegan Sun FanDuel Sportsbook. The centerpiece of the 11,000 square foot sports and race book is a 140-foot video wall. There is also a mezzanine for VIPs which should be open this weekend and plenty of places to place bets before and on Sunday. They made sure this new spot was up and running in time for the Big Game. “We have 222 seats. We have 39 kiosks which includes one kiosk in the mezzanine level as well,” Bryant said, WTNH reports.

While full food service is still not availabale, there will be a buffet for those reserving seats on Sunday. “Everything will be open in this room with the exception of food service but we are going to have a buffet on Sunday,” Bryant said. “So for Sunday, the seats are $30 but that includes a free buffet. Then the food, the kitchen’s coming soon, and our race book will be opening hopefully in the next two weeks.”

Hamilton said sports betting has paid off for the casino by bringing in more people who stay longer. Sunday night hotel stays have increased, especially during football season. “Not just new customers but really that length of stay is extending because it creates a whole other event that people can attend,” Hamilton said.

All bets are on! ⚽ 🏈 🏇
The Mohegan Sun @FDSportsbook opens tomorrow, February 10th at 9:00am. Come check out our 11,000 square-foot signature Sportsbook just in time for the big game on Sunday. Place a bet and enjoy our Big Game Buffet for $29.95. pic.twitter.com/fyQL051Ivv

— Mohegan Sun ☀️ (@MoheganSun) February 9, 2022

Late September, Mohegan Sun hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its temporary FanDuel Sportsbook location in the casino’s Bow & Arrow Sports Bar, and said a permanent site would open this winter in Mohegan Sun’s existing racebook. The CEO of Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment, Ray Pineault, told Yogonet in a video interview in December that the company was targeting a date before the Super Bowl, and that it would be the largest FanDuel retail sportsbook in the United States with 11,000 thousand square feet of space, making it one of the largest in the United States.

The other tribal casino in Connecticut, Foxwoods Resort & Casino, held the official grand opening of DraftKings Sportsbook in early December, a 12.000 square foot venue that now offers online sports betting and iGame options.