Iowa: Grand Falls casino opens Betfred sportsbook

The Grand Falls Casino & Golf Resort in Larchwood celebrated Thursday the grand opening of its new Betfred Sports sportsbook Thursday. The casino partnered with the English sports gambling operator Betfred, who will be in charge of the sportsbook's day-to-day operations. 

Bryan Bennett, chief operating officer of Betfred USA Sports, said Grand Falls is the first casino in the country to offer sports bets through Betfred, which has operated in Great Britain since 1967. So far, he said, the company has done well in its first foray into the states.

"It's been robust, as you would think, Tuesday was bigger than Monday, Wednesday was bigger than Tuesday, today's going to be bigger," Bennett said. "And it's going to keep going, Sunday obviously culminating with the Super Bowl."

The moment we’ve all been waiting for is here! The Betfred Sportsbook at Grand Falls is NOW OPEN! The very first bet was placed on Kansas City (-1.5). Who do you think will win the BIG GAME? pic.twitter.com/PN0vpPsExc

— Grand Falls Casino & Golf Resort (@GFCasino) January 27, 2020

The sportsbook can accommodate wagers on an enormous variety of professional and college-level games, as well as proposition (or "prop") bets, which are placed on elements of the game other than who wins and who loses, the Sioux City Journal reports.

"For the Super Bowl alone, we have probably 1,000 props, 1,000 different things you can bet on, just for the Super Bowl alone," he said. 

Betfred is planning to launch an online app to accompany the physical sportsbook in the casino. They're hoping to have the online betting system up and running before the March Madness college basketball tournament. 

"There will be some sportsbooks in Las Vegas that this would beat," said Sharon Haselhoff, the general manager at Grand Falls. 

Grand Falls became the first casino in Northwest Iowa to allow sports betting back in early September. A temporary "Elite Sportsbook" was opened in a former VIP area in the casino to accommodate sports bettors; it has since closed, and the casino is currently trying to figure out what to do with the vacated space.

Iowa casinos began the race to offer sports betting shortly after Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a measure last May allowing bets on sporting events. Nearly all of Iowa's casinos immediately applied for sports wagering licenses after the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission approved application rules in July. 

Situated in the farthest Northwest corner of the state, just east of the South Dakota border and south of the Minnesota border, Grand Falls could be well-positioned to attract wagerers from its neighbors to the north and west, where sports betting remains illegal. 

"When sports wagering just became legal in August, you know, we were getting calls from, not just from South Dakota or Minnesota, we actually got a call from Montana, because we were going to be the closest sportsbook to that person in Montana," Haselhoff said.