DraftKings Opening Temporary Retail Sportsbook At Bay Mills Wednesday
DraftKings has been one of the top online sportsbooks in Michigan since legalized online sports betting began in January 2021.
Now, DK is getting a retail sportsbook home with its partner of Bay Mills Resort & Casino in Brimley, which is in the eastern Upper Peninsula on Lake Superior.
On Wednesday, June 22, the temporary retail sportsbook will open, with a permanent version scheduled to open in the fall.
The new addition will give Michigan sports bettors a taste of what the retail sports betting experience is like in Brimley.
What to expect at DraftKings Sportsbook at Bay Mills
The temporary DraftKings Sportsbook at Bay Mills will include a sports betting ticket cage and six self-service kiosks. Those will be meant to mimic the look and feel of the DraftKings Sportsbook MI app.
When the permanent sportsbook opens in the fall, it will include more self-service kiosks and over-the-counter ticket cages.
The sportsbook will also feature a large video wall and odds board.
Bay Mills and DraftKings place on celebrating the grand opening of the permanent space once it is ready.
DraftKings was a big fish for Bay Mills
Bay Mills opened a lot of eyes when it landed DraftKings as its online operator in the summer of 2020.
“We said, ‘Let’s go hunting,’” then-Bay Mills tribal chairman Bryan Newland said in August of 2020. “We said, ‘Let’s go out and bag the biggest and best partner that we can who will fit our culture. That’s what we did.”
The partnership for an online sportsbook and online casino has been a fruitful one for Bay Mills.
When it comes to sports betting, DraftKings sits third in all-time handle for Michigan at $1.36 billion. That has generated more than $70 million in revenue for DK and Bay Mills.
For online casino revenue, DraftKings is also third all-time in Michigan for revenue at $264.9 million.
Nice bounce back for Bay Mills
Bay Mills is back to promoting good news and expansion plans after an electric fire closed the venue for nearly a week in May.
Nobody was injured in the fire, which took place in the technology room of the casino and resort. However, it did compromise their technology systems. That left their gaming systems, internet, ATM systems and phone systems as non-operational.
During that short hiatus, DraftKings online sportsbook and casino was still operational and available for Bay Mills regulars to use.