Prominent online sportsbook operator PointsBet Holdings Proprietary Limited has announced that it has been licensed by the Illinois Gaming Board to open the Midwestern state’s first off-track betting facility in partnership with Hawthorne Race Course.

The Australian provider used an official Tuesday press release published by BloodHorse.com to detail that the non-casino sportsbook is to premiere from later today in the southern Chicago suburb of Crestwood and be operated by its PointsBet USA subsidiary. The Melbourne-headquartered firm moreover explained that the coming Club Hawthorne venue will be part of Hawthorne Race Course’s off-tracking betting network and could soon be joined by up to two other such Illinois facilities.

Exciting encounter:

Johnny Aitken serves as the Chief Executive Officer for PointsBet USA and he used the press release to pronounce that the Club Hawthorne sportsbook is to feature a 163-inch video wall while having its viewing area ‘bookended’ by a 24-strong collection of 75-inch televisions. The boss also declared that this visual experience will be complemented by ‘a fully integrated and state-of-the-art sound system’ in order to present sportsbetting aficionados with ‘an arena-like experience.’

Read a statement from Aitken…

“As sports fans we all love the game, love the action, but we also love experiencing it with other fans. The unique opportunity to open a new-style of stand-alone sportsbooks with Hawthorne Race Course required us to develop something that would match the best-in-class customer experience that we provide on our mobile platform. This isn’t just the best sportsbook in Chicago, it’s the best sports bar too.”

Concerted concentration:

For his part and Tim Carey, President and Chief Executive Officer for Hawthorne Race Course, proclaimed that the soon-to-debut Hawthorne facility is to furthermore come complete with five staffed betting stations in addition to six self-service sportsbetting kiosks all ‘separated by plexiglass barriers’. He asserted that the property will likewise offer up to 500 patrons the ability to watch a wide variety of sporting action from the comfort of ‘highboy tables’, small group couches and leather captain’s chairs.

Carey’s statement read…

“We are the only gaming company in the Chicagoland area that is able to open sportsbooks at off-track and non-casino locations, so this is an opportunity on which we focused a lot of energy and investment. We completely remodeled the space to create the best sports viewing and sportsbetting destination in the state.”