Sports Podcasting Studio Opens at Wynn Las Vegas

Posted on: September 10, 2021, 12:40h. 

Last updated on: September 10, 2021, 05:44h.

Larry Henry Read More

Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Gaming Business, Legislation, Politics, Regulation.

A resort on the Las Vegas Strip has built a $3.5 million studio for a San Francisco-based sports podcasting company. This adds another sports-betting broadcast studio to the inside of a Las Vegas hotel-casino.

Wynn Las Vegas has entered into a three-year partnership with Blue Wire, a network with 175 podcasts, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal. Blue Wire’s website includes podcasts about most sporting events, including combat sports and the NFL. One podcast, Burn It All Down, is promoted as a feminist sports podcast that explores “the week in sports and culture.”

The Blue Wire studio was constructed inside a former jewelry shop in a retail corridor connecting the resort to the Wynn Golf Club, the newspaper reported. Wynn Las Vegas is on the east side of the Las Vegas Strip where the now-demolished Desert Inn was located for decades.

Blue Wire’s high-profile location inside the resort includes a glass front allowing passersby to watch podcasters at work. The studio is intended to bring awareness to the resort company’s sports-betting arm, WynnBET.

Podcaster Ryan Kramer told the newspaper sports betting during the last decade has emerged from the “back alley.”

Now, if you’re a media company that does sports, you have to have some sort of gaming content,” he said.

This trend is occurring as Las Vegas is positioning itself as a destination for sports enthusiasts. A new television ad from the Las Vegas Visitors and Convention Authority highlights the city’s sports attractions.

VSiN Branches Out

The Vegas Sports Information Network, known as VSiN, operates from a broadcast studio near the sportsbook at the South Point Hotel Casino and Spa. The South Point is at the southern end of the Las Vegas Strip.

Founded in 2017, VSiN, now owned by DraftKings, features veteran broadcaster Brent Musburger and sports-betting analysts Mitch Moss, Gill Alexander, and Michael Lombardi. The network has opened a second studio in downtown Las Vegas at Circa Resort on Fremont and Main streets.

This week, VSiN entered into an agreement with YouTube TV to offer sports betting news and analysis for subscribers of YouTube TV Sports Plus. 

This summer, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) signed legislation legalizing sports betting in Louisiana. After the Gaming Control Board finalizes the rules to regulate and tax the industry, bettors in Louisiana will be allowed to wager on live sporting events. That process is expected to be completed sometime during football season this year. 

Millions Bet on Sports

Louisiana is one of six states where sports betting is legal, but not yet operational, according to the American Gaming Association website. Nationwide, 26 states already allow bettors to wager on live sporting events. Legislation to allow sports betting is active in two more states.

This summer, nine states each handled sports bets in the hundreds of millions of dollars. In July, New Jersey led the nation in the amount of money bet on sporting events at $578.7 million, according to VSiN. Nevada handled the second-highest total, $409.9 million. These numbers are expected to go higher with the football season now in full swing.