Sky River Casino in California to open in September

While most of the industry talk concerning California surrounding the vote on the online gambilng bill in November, the upstate, preparations are being in put in place for the grand opening of a new casino.

Located 15 miles south of Sacramento will be the Sky River Casino is being constructed by the Wilton Rancheria Tribe in partnership with US firm Boyd Gaming.

The structure will be 100,000 square foot in size, playing host to in excess of 2,000 slot machines in addition to 80 table games and over 17 different restaurants with a wide variety of cuisine available to guests.

Tactical move from Boyd Gaming?

Although it might be too early to suggest that the most populous state in the union will have an online gambling bill passed, this can certainly be viewed as a strategic gamble by Boyd Gaming to get ahead of its rivals.

There is no doubt that the casino will bring in a substantial amount of revenue with land-based casinos witnessing a resurgence in footfall since the global pandemic. Though, should the online gambilng bill be passed, it means that the company will be in a very favourable position to then apply for an online gambling licence in the state.

This is because every operator in every state is required by law to partner with a land-based casino and this could see the company move into the online gambling space. Not only this, it could well be the first in the state, which would give it a major edge over the country’s other online gambling firms.

Of course, from an awareness perspective, Boyd Gaming, despite being around for decades is perhaps, not very well known in the US gambling industry, compared to the likes of Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts International, both of which have successfully pivoted into the online gambling space over the last few years.

Despite this, the hospitality and entertainment company still recorded revenues of $3.4 billion last year, a surefire sign of its credibility in the marketplace. 

Online gambling a natural progression for Boyd Gaming

With such huge resources behind it, the company is certainly well positioned to make a splash in the US online gambling market if it so wishes. 

California can definitely be the one state where its investment could pay dividends, especially from a marketing perspective in order to capture the majority of the population. Arguably the biggest concern for the company, is that it does not have a track record in iGaming, which means that a partnership could make sense, in the same way that MGM linked up with Entain in 2018 to launch BetMGM.

Most of its energies for the time being though, will be focused on the opening of its latest venue and it will hope that it can fit all of the relevant pieces together. Should it wish to pursue the online gambling route, it certainly has the necessary foundations in place.