Out of the 10 Illinois casinos, Jumer’s Casino & Hotel is not involved in the Illinois sports betting boom — yet.
Twin River Worldwide Holdings announced that it would buy Jumer’s from Delaware North for $120 million.
Delaware North purchased the casino from the Jumer family in 2011.
Located in Rock Island off of I-280 and Illinois 92, Jumer’s features a 40,000-square-foot casino floor. It has 870 slot machines and 25 table games to go with a 205-room hotel.
The deal should close in the second quarter of 2021. And IL sports bettors will likely see another Illinois sportsbook option.
Twin River wants in Illinois sports betting market
In the press release, Twin River President and CEO George Papanier explicitly mentioned sports betting:
“This acquisition further expands our geographic reach into yet another attractive market. It provides access to a growing gaming market in Illinois, with the potential to capitalize on potentially lucrative sports betting opportunities. We look forward to the opportunity to leverage our operational expertise and proven integration approach to drive incremental revenues and cash flow improvements.”
Twin River also owns and manages nine casinos across the US.
So, the thinking is that Twin River would partner with a sports betting operator that is not currently live in Illinois.
Now to determine which operator that could be by looking on Twin River’s other sportsbook partnerships. Unfortunately, there’s not much to infer.
Twin River is partners with William Hill, DraftKings and FanDuel in states such as Rhode Island, Mississippi, Delaware and Colorado.
But those sportsbooks are already live in Illinois.
With that said, some big names remain on the sidelines.
The Jumer’s sale presents another opportunity for them to enter the market. Here are a few sportsbooks to keep an eye on.
Which sportsbook will partner with Twin River?
BetMGM online sportsbook is live in Indiana, New Jersey, Nevada, West Virginia and Colorado, but it’s been crickets for them on the Illinois front.
The sportsbook has been doing well in neighboring Indiana, bringing in almost $10 million in handle in August. BetMGM was right behind PointsBet for fourth place in the Hoosier State in monthly handle.
Fox Bet is available in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Colorado, and it’s one of the biggest brands not currently in the Illinois market.
Barstool will launch in Illinois, at some point, but Jumer’s won’t be its path. Penn National Gaming owns Hollywood Casino Aurora and Hollywood Casino Joliet, and either of those will serve as Barstool’s entry point once it’s ready.
Similarly, Unibet will go live in Illinois at some point — but it already has a market-access deal with Argosy Casino Alton.
A few more sports betting operator names to consider are BetAmerica and theScore Bet, which live in Indiana.
On the surface, BetMGM or Fox Bet would appear to be most likely to partner with Twin River and Jumer’s.
Delaware North’s new Illinois casino project
Delaware North sold Jumer’s with an eye on a new project.
It will operate the proposed Southland Live Casino in Calumet City if the Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) grants a license. The IGB had set an Oct. 28 deadline in order to approve or deny new casino applications, but there’s buzz that date could be pushed back.
“We’re very proud of our ownership and operation of Jumer’s and what Delaware North has done to contribute to and be an important part of the community here,” Brian Hansberry, president of Delaware North’s gaming business, told The Quad-City Times.
