The oldest land-based casino in New Jersey has reportedly taken the bold step of introducing real-money online daily fantasy sports games with the premiere on Monday of its FastPick service.
According to a report from The Associated Press news service, the FastPick innovation from Resorts Casino Hotel, which is operated by Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment, requires players to select three to ten players from a series of head-to-head match-ups across a range of sports. These picks then constitute a customer’s line-up with the remaining selections assigned to the house. A patron can then win cash if all of their selections amass more points than those allocated to the casino.
As an example, the news service reported that FastPick will allow patrons to choose whether New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady or Green Bay Packers signal-caller Aaron Rodgers will have a better statistical National Football League (NFL) day on a given Sunday.
Resorts Casino Hotel, which became New Jersey’s first casino when it opened its doors in May of 1978, reportedly revealed that its new daily fantasy sports service has initially been launched online but that it hopes to have kiosks up and running on the gaming floor before the start of the latest NFL season in early-September.
“I am very excited about this new business,” Mark Giannantonio, President for Resorts Casino Hotel, told The Associated Press. “We expect it to be exciting for our online customers and soon for those who play at our casino. The idea has always been for the bricks-and-mortar casino to be integrated as much as possible with our online business.”
Steve Doty from the American Gaming Association industry trade group told the news service that he was not aware of any casinos outside of Nevada that offer real-money daily fantasy sports games while the man behind TheFantasySportsCave.com website, Giovanni Garcia, declared that Resorts Casino Hotel may have found a way to persuade sports fans to visit.
“I won’t really want to go to a football game,” Garcia told The Associated Press. “I would rather stay at home and watch all the games. But if [Resorts Casino Hotel] make it an experience, offer all the games to watch and meet all my needs, then I’ll go to a casino and I’ll spend money on food and drinks and probably play poker and blackjack while I’m there, too.”
This sentiment was echoed by Joe Pollock from TheFantasyTakeaway.com fantasy football-focused domain as he reportedly explained that he was now interested in visiting the Atlantic City casino in order to try out the FastPick service.
“A lot of people do not know the rules of casino table games but really a lot of people know how to play daily fantasy sports,” Pollock told The Associated Press. “It is something pretty simple that can be attractive to them.”