Hope springs eternal every spring at 1060 West Addison Street in Chicago.
Next door at 1012 West Addison Street, Cubs fans will now get the chance to put their money where their mouths are after DraftKings had their ceremonial opening for a retail sportsbook adjacent to Wrigley Field on Friday.
“The reception has been great since opening the DraftKings Sportsbook at Wrigley Field last summer as a state-of-the-art restaurant and bar, and we are excited to take our flagship venue to the next level with retail sports betting operations,” said Michael Kilbort, vice president of product operations at DraftKings. “Today’s celebration wouldn’t have been possible without the from the Chicago Cubs, Levy, and the Illinois Gaming Board. Together, we’re able to deliver customers a safe and regulated way to get in on the action while enjoying an incredible space to watch live sports.”
The partnering with Casino Queen in East St. Louis to hasten its arrival for mobile wagering.
Former Bears offensive lineman Kyle Long, well-loved by Chicago sports fans, placed the honorary first wager at the in-person ticket counter. Long wagered $100 for the Cubs to win the World Series at +2500 and also spent a good portion of Friday morning afterwards answering questions from local media about the Bears getting standout wide receiver Keenan Allen from the Los Angeles Chargers in exchange for a fourth-round pick on Thursday night, and whether the Bears should draft USC quarterback Caleb Williams with the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft.
Plenty of space in the two-story layout 33x38
The bar and restaurant space spans 17,000 square feet across two levels with booth and table seating on both floors. For those who will be constantly checking odds and wanting to work from the sportsbook, there are 25 individual seats on the lower level that have electrical outlets for laptops.
The video wall is immense with a 2,000 square foot video screen capable of showing up to 25 games at one time and comes with a sound system. Below the video wall are 23 large-size television screens that will also feature an array of games, and between the two is a running sports news crawl spanning the length of the video wall.
There are a total of 32 self-serve kiosks, 12 on the lower floor and 20 on the second level. There is also a dedicated area for the retail ticket counter featuring seven terminals and 10 screens dedicated to odds information on the first floor — five screens behind ticket writers and another five available for viewing before stepping up to the counter.
The opening of the retail sportsbook comes at a perfect time with Big Ten tournament teams Illinois and Northwestern scheduled to play in the quarterfinals Friday. That leads into the NCAA Tournament next week, and bettors at the sportsbook are permitted to make wagers on both the Illini and Wildcats (and possibly Loyola should it receive an at-large berth) for both single-game event wagering as well as Big Ten and NCAA Tournament futures.
State law limits wagering on Illinois-based schools to exclusively retail betting and for “Tier 1” wagers involving moneyline, spread, and totals offerings.
Happy visit to the North Side for Long n3v6b
Kyle Long with the ceremonial first bet at @DKSportsbook at Wrigley. The bet?
$100 on the #Cubs to win the World Series. pic.twitter.com/XZehsjexIT
— Mike Berman (@MikeBermanNBC) March 15, 2024
It was readily apparent Long still has many backers in Chicago as he spent his time happily chatting up local reporters from both print media and television. He has been associated with DraftKings as an ambassador for more than a year and gave thorough answers on questions about the Bears, Allen’s potential impact, and scenarios in which both Williams and incumbent QB Justin Fields would be in the same locker room.
“People understand in hanging out with me, I can talk to anybody and hang out with anybody and that’s what really DraftKings sportsbook is all about,” said Long, who was a first-round pick by the Bears in 2013 and a three-time Pro Bowl selection from 2013-15. “It’s allowing these teams, these leagues to have more engagement from the people like you and me so I can sit next to you and we can do some sports betting, we can do some hanging out watching the games and it’s camaraderie.
“It’s bringing people together. That’s what DraftKings is all about and I think that’s why DraftKings brought me in is because it’s a people business.”
One of the fun parts of the job for Long is engaging in social media, joking DraftKings is asking him to use his Twitter (now X) more after saying Bears coaches “told me to get off it” when he was a rookie. Long felt the NFL is doing its part to educate the players on sports betting, but he also thinks the league has another avenue of transparency available.
“When I was a player I was very cognizant of the dos and don’ts, the things that are obviously not allowed and the things that are allowed,” he said, “but being on the other side now, I think it would be probably beneficial to everybody to have the kind of information that the NFL players are given.
“Look, it’s a crash course. It’s a (sports betting) 101, and they do offer a 202 — it’s not required — but the 101 is helpful enough to keep you out of Dodge.”
