Most people will visit Las Vegas with high sports betting expectations.
As the capital of gambling and the only place where legalized sports betting occurred in the United States before the Supreme Court struck down PASPA in 2018, one would assume you'll have pure ease of comfort in getting down as many sports bets as your heart desires.
That is not necessarily the case.
Yes, most major casinos in Las Vegas allow you to walk right in and place a wager on a sporting event (if you are over 21) without some of the cumbersome registration processes that online sports betting requires.
In every major casino on the strip, you can pull up to a kiosk and place whatever wager you want without much inertia.
But it's not the simplest if you want the ease of comfort of betting straight off your phone.
In order to place bets off your phone — from anywhere — you have to sign up for an account at a physical casino. You cannot just pull up a FanDuel or DraftKings app, register with your credentials and place a bet like you can in other states. You have to wait in line at one single sportsbook in order to open a single account.
FanDuel does have a sportsbook at the Fremont Casino where you can register an account. The biggest and most popular sportsbooks in Las Vegas include MGM, Caesars, Westgate (SuperBook) and Circa.
Although you have to register an account in person, after that, everything is digital. You can place all your bets on the device and deposit and withdraw from your phone.
So, if you are traveling to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl, be sure to register an account as soon as possible, or you run the risk of being stuck in massive signup lines in the hours leading up to the big game.
What if you're getting to Vegas too late? There are still some veteran moves you can make to get around the long lines.
As aforementioned, just head straight to a kiosk, where you won't be required to queue in a massive line. One drawback is you have to be physically near a kiosk every time you want to place a wager. Plus, you'll have to wait in line after the game to cash your ticket. But in some occasions, might be a better play than waiting for a while to register your account.
My other bit of advice would be to target smaller casinos. The sportsbooks at hotels such as Cosmopolitan, MGM Grand, Caesars Palace, Wynn and Westgate are expected to be incredibly busy during Super Bowl week. But other, smaller hotels won't have as much pushback
Consider posting up at the Planet Hollywood or Mirage. Both still have the modern trappings of a physical sportsbook — filled with massive screens, cushiony chairs and other accoutrements — without some of the overcrowding you'll experience at the more well-known spots.
