Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming celebrated Thursday the grand opening of the rebranded FanDuel Sportsbook at its Fremont Casino, plus the debut of 10,000 square feet of additional gaming space. It is one of the first unveilings of a $50 million property-wide renovation and expansion project.
A new six-stall food hall, built on a former parking lot on Third Street, also made its debut last week, along with the new gaming options. An entrance and a patio were added along Third Street, which the city recently rebuilt as a pedestrian mall that creates access to the Fremont Street Experience from Ogden Avenue.
There’s a new food hall in town 👀 @fremont Food Hall celebrated its grand opening today 🎉
It features a variety of dining options from six national, regional and local casual dining brands including:
– @SteaknShake
– @HueyMagoos
– @craftkitchenlv
– @dunkindonuts pic.twitter.com/hnRt12RAIK— City of Las Vegas (@CityOfLasVegas) January 12, 2023
The 2,900-square-foot FanDuel Sportsbook is near the food hall and Third Street entrance. The area has 12 bartop gaming machines, 12 65-inch TVs, four transaction windows and seven self-service kiosks. Meanwhile, the additional casino space features about 120 more games, taking over the former buffet section of the property.
Boyd, which has a 5% stake in FanDuel, still operates the Fremont book. But the FanDuel brand may pull in customers familiar with it in their home state. The company said it has 42% of the market share by gross gaming revenue in 2022’s third quarter.
Boyd also recently renovated the property’s hotel rooms, and it plans to renovate the entire casino floor a section at a time. Officials expect that work to finish before the end of the year, according to Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Steve Thompson, Executive Vice President of Operations, said at the opening: “Once we’re done, the entire Fremont casino will have the look and feel of this expanded casino space that you see — a modern, exciting new design for one of downtown’s most legendary properties.”
Enjoy some of the ＮＥＷ Fremont views. 😍 pic.twitter.com/dkoQHepErz
— Fremont Hotel & Casino (@fremont) January 14, 2023
The rebranding of Fremont Casino’s sportsbook to FanDuel was greenlit back in August by the Nevada Gaming Commission. FanDuel’s parent company, Ireland-based Flutter Entertainment, along with several of its subsidiaries –including FanDuel itself–, were then allowed to collaborate in the operation of the Fremont Casino property in downtown Las Vegas.
It was established early on that existing Boyd personnel would continue to run the sports betting operation, and FanDuel would not supply any technology. Under the agreement, FanDuel will provide advice on odds and risk management through Boyd’s existing IGT sports betting system.
