FanDuel to open sports book in Bally's Atlantic City

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — The online sports betting company FanDuel will open an in-person sports book at Bally's casino in Atlantic City once the casino's sale to a Rhode Island company is finalized.

When that happens, all nine Atlantic City casinos will have on-location sports books as New Jersey vies for the national lead in the fast-growing sports betting industry.

FanDuel told The Associated Press on Wednesday that it has plans for a temporary sports betting facility in the casino before the end of the year, and will build a permanent sports book on the center of the casino floor next spring.

Bally's currently has a sports book in its Wild, Wild West section. But that area will be annexed by the adjacent Caesars casino once Bally's is sold to Twin River Worldwide Holdings in a deal expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year.

Once the deal goes through, Bally's would be without a sports book.

Enter FanDuel, which already has sports betting dealings with Twin River in Colorado, and is eager to replicate the experience in New Jersey.

“They are great partners and we are thrilled to work with them in another exciting, gaming-centric market like Atlantic City, said George Papanier, Twin River’s president and CEO. "The permanent sports book location is going to be one of the many exciting changes we have in store for the Bally’s property, a unique location just steps away from center Boardwalk where millions stroll by annually.”

New Jersey’s red-hot sports betting market blew past its own national record in September, taking in more than $748 million in bets from sports gamblers finally able to wager on football amid the coronavirus outbreak.

That easily surpassed the national monthly record New Jersey set just a month earlier, when $668 million...