Golden Nugget Danville Hotel Possible, Sportsbook Prospects Murky

Posted on: September 13, 2024, 07:10h. 

Last updated on: September 17, 2024, 08:57h.

Todd Shriber @etfgodfather Read More
Expertise: Financial, Gaming Business, Mergers and Acquisitions.

The Golden Nugget Danville Casino opened in May 2023 and by all accounts, the venue has been a success. So much so that the operator is mulling the addition of a hotel in the future, but the outlook for a retail sportsbook is more dim.

The Golden Nugget in Danville, Ill. Adding a hotel is possibility in the future, but the outlook for a sportsbook is dim. (Image: WCIA.com)

At an event earlier this week celebrating the venue’s first anniversary in the Illinois town, General Manager Jahnae Erpenbach reiterated that a hotel is still part of the long-term plans for the venue, but evaluating demand is critical when it comes to deciding when to make large-scale additions to the property, which is one of the newest casinos in the state.

We need to make sure we balance the demand in our ability to do that,” she said at the event.

The casino is a joint venture between the Wilmot family and Tilman Fertitta, whose Fertitta Entertainment Inc. (FEI) controls the Golden Nugget brand.

Strong Start for Golden Nugget Danville Without Hotel

Casinos and hotels are often joined at the hip, but there are dozens of examples of gaming venues across the US that don’t feature guestrooms. That’s often the result of market factors, including population and the ability of the surrounding region to attract conventions and tourists.

Even without a hotel, Golden Nugget Danville is off to a strong start. At the event earlier this week, President Jimmy Wilmot highlighted the venue’s contributions to city coffers. He said that since the casino opened, it’s paid Danville $2.8 million in gaming taxes, $350,000 in property taxes, $402,000 in sales taxes and another $45,000 in food and beverage levies. Since its debut, the casino paid $5.6 million in taxes to the state of Illinois and has purchased $420,000 worth of products from Danville businesses.

Those are financial boons for Danville, which was banking on the gaming venue to lift it out of a public pension liability mess. Wilmot added that about half the visitors to Golden Nugget Danville since doors opened hailed from outside of Illinois.

That’s important because the property could face competitive pressure from Churchill Downs’ Terre Haute Casino Resort in Indiana, which is about an hour’s drive southeast of the Golden Nugget. Erpenbach acknowledged there was some impact to the Golden Nugget when Churchill opened the Indiana casino hotel in April, but that property won’t disrupt long-term plans in Danville.

Sportsbook Off Table Over Near-Term

Erpenbach added that the hope is Golden Nugget Danville will eventually have a retail sportsbook, but that appears unlikely over the near- to medium-term because DraftKings already has a land-based presence in Illinois and would be required to shell out another $10 million for a license to run a sportsbook at Golden Nugget Danville.

With the gaming company grappling with higher taxes in the state, that licensing fee isn’t economical, particularly when accounting for the fact that in Illinois, like the rest of the US, the bulk of sports wagers are placed online, not in person.

DraftKings and Golden Nugget have a relationship by way of the former’s 2022 acquisition of Golden Nugget Online Gaming (GNOG), which made Fertitta one of the largest shareholders in the online sportsbook operator.