Caesars rolls out new sports-betting app for NJ, nationwide bettors

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Gambling giant Caesars Entertainment – owner of three of Atlantic City’s nine casinos – formally rolled out its new online and mobile sports betting app, called the Caesars Sportsbook, the casino and hotel company said on Aug. 2.

The new app is a rebranding of the online and mobile app for William Hill, the London-based online gaming company that Caesars bought in April for $4 billion.

Amid intense business closures due to the pandemic, including a three-month closure of all nine brick and mortar establishments last year, online wagering on sports and at the casinos more generally acted as a lifeboat for the state’s gaming sector.

Even before the pandemic, patrons showed increasing interest in placing wages online rather than taking the trip to the South Jersey resort town.

“The rebranded and upgraded offerings for our Caesars Sportsbook will provide customized offers, flexible limits, a wide range of betting lines, and an intuitive user experience,” reads an Aug. 2 statement from Tom Reeg, Caesars’ chief executive officer.

In addition to New Jersey, patrons in Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia now all have access to the app. They’ll have to access it through William Hill in Nevada, Illinois and Washington, D.C., and first register at a Caesars retail location. Caesars is still asking for regulatory approval in Arizona, Maryland and Louisiana.

William Hill operates the sportsbooks for Tropicana, Monmouth Park Racetrack and Ocean Resort Casino. The latter two are not owned by Caesars, and it is not immediately clear what impact this would have on their operations. In addition to Tropicana, Caesars also owns Harrah’s Resort and Caesars.

According to Caesars, the app combines its different sports betting products onto a single app which will include its existing Caesars award program. A multimillion-dollar marketing campaign is being rolled out to get more patrons onto the app.

Caesars and William Hill assured this spring that William Hill customers will have access to Caesars’ products, including its loyalty program and “single-wallet offering of sports betting and online gaming products across the enterprise.”