Circa Sports is aiming to bring its low-hold sportsbook model to the East Coast to reach what it sees as an “underserved” market of sports bettors.
Circa sportsbook operations manager Mike Van Ermen told LSR the operator is looking at any state with remote registration and mobile wagering. It will get its first out-of-state test this summer in Colorado.
“All things being equal, we think our product will win out,” Van Ermen said. “We really hang our hat on our hold percentages and the fact that it’s much lower on average than all of our competitors.”
For example, over the weekend, Circa offered a 15% hold on the WGC Mexico golf tournament. That compared to an average of around 40% in NJ sports betting.
The operator was also taking $100,000 limits on the Tyson Fury versus Deontay Wilder fight last Saturday night.
Circa outperforming its expectations
Van Ermen said the low-hold, high-limit model had proven so successful since launch in June 2019 that the firm had sped up its expansion plans.
“We’ve gotten such a positive response in such a short window of time; it would be disadvantageous to not expand as quickly as reasonably possible,” Van Ermen explained.
Circa opened its first book at Golden Gate Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas in June. It will follow that in December 2020 with a multilevel, stadium-style sportsbook at Circa Resort & Casino.
“As we’ve as we’ve grown and had success, we’ve understood this doesn’t need to be just a department of a company on Fremont Street,” Van Ermen said.
“This has the potential to be a multistate company in the short term. We feel like our business model is relatively underserved in some of the East Coast markets. We could do very well there.”
Where did Circa come from?
Circa is the brainchild of casino owner and downtown Las Vegas developer Derek Stevens. Its first market outside Nevada will be Colorado, where Circa could be live in May.
Van Ermen declined to share initial marketing plans for Colorado sports betting but pointed to previous price-led promotions in Nevada. To market its launch, the operator went vig-free on baseball, the Stanley Cup Final and the Champions League Final.
“We’re really excited about remote registration in Colorado,” Van Ermen added. “I hope everybody downloads every single app and chooses from there because we believe in our product.”
