CQ Holding Company, Inc. and DraftKings Inc. announced the opening of a temporary DraftKings Sportsbook location at Hollywood Casino Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S. This is the second collaboration between DraftKings and CQ Holding Company, Inc., which operates DraftKings at Casino Queen in East St. Louis, Illinois.
Located on the 3rd floor of the casino, the temporary DraftKings Sportsbook will offer Louisiana sports fans ages 21 and over an immersive, in-person sports betting experience, including 20 self-service kiosks and three over-the-counter sports betting ticket cages where customers can engage with team members to place bets in person. Hollywood Casino Baton Rouge, an exciting riverboat casino docked on the Mississippi River at 1717 River Rd. near Capitol Lakes, has approximately 27,000 square feet of gaming space, with 859 gaming machines and 12 table games.
Construction on a permanent DraftKings Sportsbook located inside of the Hollywood Casino Baton Rouge is currently underway. Hollywood Casino recently broke ground on a 38,000-square-foot expansion project, with plans to move the casino operations to land and increase its footprint to 100,000 square feet of space, including the permanent state-of-the-art DraftKings Sportsbook and new dining outposts.
The new DraftKings Sportsbook at Hollywood Casino Baton Rouge is part of DraftKings’ continued effort to expand its presence in Louisiana and across the U.S. The company is committed to creating inclusive and responsible pathways for people to build, imagine, and innovate through the DraftKings S.E.R.V.E.S. program, with a focus on Service, Equity, Responsible Gaming, Vitality, Entrepreneurship, and Sports.
Michael Kibort, senior director of Retail Sportsbooks at DraftKings, commented: “We’re excited to expand our DraftKings footprint in Louisiana, showcasing our commitment to the region with the opening of our second retail sportsbook space. Through our collaboration with CQ Holding Company, Inc. and Hollywood Casino, we look forward to revolutionizing the sports betting experience, while providing sports fans with an outstanding entertainment facility in Baton Rouge.”
While Terry Downey, president and CEO of CQ Holding Company, Inc., pointed out: “The temporary DraftKings Sportsbook at Hollywood Casino Baton Rouge will provide customers with new, exciting ways to enjoy this historic property, and we’re thrilled our expanded DraftKings partnership will offer guests their premier sports betting technology. We believe this temporary DraftKings Sportsbook space will lay the foundation for one of the most engaging sports viewing environments, which will be further elevated upon the opening of the proposed permanent DraftKings Sportsbook next year.”
DraftKings Inc. is a digital sports entertainment and gaming company created to fuel the competitive spirit of sports fans with products that range across daily fantasy, regulated gaming and digital media. Headquartered in Boston, and launched in 2012 by Jason Robins, Matt Kalish and Paul Liberman, DraftKings is the only U.S.-based vertically integrated sports betting operator. It’s also a multi-channel provider of sports betting and gaming technologies, powering sports and gaming entertainment for operators in 17 countries. DraftKings’ Sportsbook is live with mobile and/or retail betting operations in the United States in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
For its part, CQ Holding Company is a financial services and asset management firm based in Illinois. It owns and operates casinos, offering slots and video poker and table games, dining, and entertainment services. CQ Holding Company serves customers in the states of Illinois, Louisiana and Iowa.