{"id":346986,"date":"2025-08-19T12:36:30","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T17:36:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/19\/boomers-sportsbook-opens-at-ellis-island-but-thats-not-the-big-story\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T12:36:30","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T17:36:30","slug":"boomers-sportsbook-opens-at-ellis-island-but-thats-not-the-big-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/19\/boomers-sportsbook-opens-at-ellis-island-but-thats-not-the-big-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Boomer’s Sportsbook Opens at Ellis Island, But That’s Not the Big Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n \"Scott <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
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\n By Scott Roeben<\/a>, on August 14 2025 <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Ellis Island has a new sportsbook, Boomer\u2019s Sportsbook. It\u2019s not just new at Ellis Island, it\u2019s new in the world.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not the big story. The big story is what Boomer\u2019s Sportsbook and Ellis Island (and its owners, the Ellis family) have in store for sports betting\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

First, the adorable hoopla, then the scoop.<\/p>\n

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Many of our fellow youths also enjoy betting on sportsball, we understand.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

First, we must all acknowledge \u201cBoomer\u2019s\u201d is an awkward name for a sportsbook.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoomer\u201d has a very distinct meaning in modern American culture. It means \u201cold.\u201d And out of touch. And resistant to change. You know, as in \u201cbaby boomer,\u201d folks born between 1946 and 1964.<\/p>\n

Boomer\u2019s Sportsbook DGAF about that definition of \u201cboomer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Boomer\u2019s Sportsbook name comes from a dog. Former dog. The deceased dog of the sportsbook\u2019s founder, Joe Asher. Boomer the dog was named after a racehorse.<\/p>\n

Anyway, beyond the name, Boomer\u2019s is so new, there are only three of them so far. The first was in Elko, Nevada, hotbed of gaming excitement. That location opened Aug. 1, 2025. There\u2019s also one at Casino Valle Verde in Henderson, whatever the hell that might be. (Actually, it\u2019s owned by Gary Ellis, a name you\u2019ll want to remember for later in this story.)<\/p>\n

Now, there\u2019s a Boomer\u2019s at Ellis Island, in a temporary space that\u2019s about the size of the casino\u2019s high limit room which has been compared to a broom closet. Mostly by us.<\/p>\n

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Joe Asher (the one with the over-sized scissors) and the Boomer\u2019s team participate in a traditional ribbon-cutting. According to ChatGPT, \u201cThere\u2019s no credible historical evidence that the ribbon-cutting tradition originated as a symbolic stand-in for breaking a hymen.\u201d It\u2019s weird you would even wonder about that.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Joe Asher is no slouch when it comes to the world of sports betting. We met him when he was the CEO of William Hill\u2019s U.S. operations, he was also the president of sports betting for IGT.<\/p>\n

Boomer\u2019s is starting small, but has made it tempting for sports bettors to sign up for their app. New sign-ups get up to $250<\/a> in their \u201cFirst Deposit Match\u201d promotion.<\/p>\n

There have been rumblings Asher is getting back into the sportsbook game because he knows something the rest of us don\u2019t. Namely, that the in-person registration requirement for digital sports betting could be going away.\u00a0The rule, a holdover from early sportsbook regulation, has long hamstrung Nevada\u2019s growth in mobile wagering.<\/p>\n

While other states have embraced quick, app-based sign-ups, Nevada forces customers to physically visit a sportsbook counter to activate an account. The result? Lost market share, clunky onboarding and a user experience that feels stuck in the BlackBerry pager era. If that irksome barrier comes down, it could unleash a surge of new customers and clever operators like Joe Asher could scoop up market share.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s all speculation, but this next part isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Now, for the scoop nobody\u2019s talking about, even the so-called \u201csports experts.\u201d Being a sports expert is like being an expert in drying paint, but far be it from us to yuck on anyone\u2019s yum, no matter how mind-numbing (and brain-injuring) the yumming might be.<\/p>\n

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Casinos need to have \u201cNo Sports Mansplaining\u201d sections.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Ellis family, patriarched by the aforementioned Gary Ellis, owns something called Moolah Play, the customer facing name for Marker Trax.<\/p>\n

Moolah Play is casino credit customers can access from their slot machine. We are very familiar with this system, as we have wagered more than $1.8 million dollar-in at Ellis Island this year, much of it via this handy casino credit program.<\/p>\n

You basically get a line of credit in advance, then you can do a virtual \u201cmarker\u201d without stopping or going to the ATM or thinking about your life choices.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the thing. Moolah Play by Marker Trax<\/a> isn\u2019t just for slots. It\u2019s also for table games, iGaming and, wait for it, sports betting.<\/p>\n

We are not a sports person, or a sports bettor, or a sports betting app expert. We do know a potential windfall when we see one.<\/p>\n

Boomer\u2019s Sportsbook is expected to have Moolah available on its app. We are not aware of another sports betting app that gives customers the opportunity to use in-app credit. Once this system delivers the results it inevitably will for casinos and sportsbooks, the upside potential is staggering.<\/p>\n

When the Ellis family gets Moolah into the major sports betting apps, they are going to be billionaires and will finally have the funds to hire someone to make sure their dice pips are correct.<\/p>\n

Including a way to easily access credit in sports betting apps raises a slew of questions, of course. Which is why there are a number of hurdles left to overcome, both regulatory and political, but in-app credit is inevitable.<\/p>\n

There was a big jump in gambling addiction<\/a> following the legalization of sports betting across the country. The number of states with sportsbooks grew from one in 2017 to 38 in 2024.<\/p>\n

Fun fact: The first legal sportsbook in a casino, however, opened at the Union Plaza in Las Vegas in 1975. The Stardust opened the second a year later.<\/p>\n

The benefits<\/a> of Moolah Play to operators is pretty obvious. The system increases play, players can\u2019t walk with the money, there\u2019s less cash on hand and (wait for it) the system can help identify problem gambling. No, really, that\u2019s what they\u2019re going with.<\/p>\n

Honestly, we love and hate Moolah Play. Is it convenient? Absolutely. The fee for using it is 1% of the amount of credit used.<\/p>\n

Do we gamble more having access to credit on our favorite video poker machine? Absolutely. More than we\u2019d like to? Sometimes. That\u2019s not Moolah\u2019s fault, that\u2019s our fault.<\/p>\n

How can we change the subject smoothly here?<\/p>\n

Boomer\u2019s Sportsbook will move to its official space when the long-awaited Ellis Island expansion<\/a>, sometime around Labor Day.<\/p>\n

The expansion opening has been a moving target, but we\u2019ve tried to stay on the latest developments on the Twitters.<\/p>\n

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