Potawatomi Casino Hotel announces opening date for new sportsbook and poker room
Potawatomi Casino Hotel is set to open its official sportsbook and poker room May 3.
The casino, which has operated a temporary sportsbook at the casino since March 2023, is opening a 6,500-square-foot sportsbook that will seat more than 200 and a 14-table poker room. Its opening is the part of a wider $190 million renovation for the casino and comes amid a handful of other announced additions in recent months.
The sportsbook’s opening date was announced by Dominic Ortiz, the casino’s property chief executive officer and general manager, at an event at the Pfister Hotel hosted by the Milwaukee Business Journal on Thursday and on its Facebook page.
The casino, at 1721 W. Canal St., is replacing its former Northern Lights Theater, which shut down in early 2023, with the sportsbook and poker rooms. The sportsbook cost $17 million in renovations, Ortiz said in a video posted on a casino Facebook page, and will span two floors, feature a 2,000-square-foot LED screen, a broadcast booth and over 20 televisions.
The sportsbook and poker room are part of a wider $190 million renovation that included the creation of a new restaurant owned by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of KISS.
Ortiz said at the Pfister Hotel event that Potawatomi would also be opening a temporary outdoor concert space. The casino hoped to host three concerts and potentially one comedy show this year.
The outdoor venue follows a Journal Sentinel report from earlier this year that the tribe is planning to construct a $200 million indoor concert venue that will seat up to 6,000 people. The project would break ground in the first quarter of 2025, a source told the newspaper.
The Forest County Potawatomi Community, which owns and runs the casino, has been operating its sports betting under an agreement with Gov. Tony Evers since March 2023, when it opened its temporary sportsbook setup. Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson made the first bet at the site, when he placed $20 on the Milwaukee Bucks to win the NBA Finals.
Potawatomi became the fourth casino in the state to offer sports betting. Evers signed agreements with other tribes as well and the Oneida Nation, St. Croix Chippewa Indians and Sokaogon Chippewa Community also operate sportsbooks.
Sports gambling came to Potawatomi after the tribe reported a heavy decline in revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. This caused the tribe to lay off employees and cut dividends to tribal members, with other tribes in the state following suit due to similar issues.
The casino’s official entrance to sports gambling follows an explosion of interest in sports gambling on a national level — for instance, a report from financial company LendingTree said that about half of Americans were betting on the Super Bowl. This spike is due to a 2018 Supreme Court decision that allowed for states to legalize the activity.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee's Potawatomi Casino Hotel has opening date for sportsbook
