OPINION:

Big things happening for sports fans at Westgate

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John Katsilometes

Remodeling work continues at the Westgate Superbook, where 220 feet of big screens have been added, capable of playing several different games or even just one for major events, such as the Super Bowl.

Mon, Nov 9, 2015 (2 a.m.)

Jay Kornegay stares at the old chairs. He remembers when they were new chairs.

“We were happy to get new chairs in 2004,” says Kornegay, who has operated the famous Westgate Las Vegas Superbook since it was known as the famous Las Vegas Hilton Superbook. “From 2004 until now, we have had very minor tweaks to this area. We’ve really done nothing.”

Until now.

Accelerating like an F-1 car hitting the green flag, Westgate officials are in the process of overhauling the hotel’s sports book. The process began in July, with a reported price tag of $13 million. The first phase is almost complete, and the result is, in fact, staggering.

“It’s the biggest screen of this type you’ll see inside, anywhere,” Kornegay says, looking across the Superbook at a digital image of a rushing attempt by Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton. “This is part of the plan to not only have the biggest sports book in Las Vegas but the best.”

Even for veteran sports bettors, the visual qualities of the Westgate upgrades are remarkable. The Superbook is home to a series of connected LED screens that measure 220 feet wide by 18 feet tall and span the entire sports book venue. The screens are 60 feet wider than the video board hanging from the ceiling at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys, and larger than the video screens in New York’s Times Square and at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace.

The screens’ 2.5 pixel resolution, which measures the distance between each pixel, is tops in the field. Another panel is being added to stretch the video experience to 240 feet.

The screen configuration can run with one event over a single panel or up to nine events spread on a panel. Or, a single event — such as the Super Bowl — can play across the entire Superbook video screen.

“These run 24/7, which is also rare for a sports book,” said Kornegay, who rose to prominence in Las Vegas in the 1990s when he ran the stadium-designed sports book at Imperial Palace. “We still have a difference in how events are broadcast, with all of the horse racing and harness racing broadcast in standard definition. But the big events, the network sporting events, are in HD, and it is really impressive.”

Near the middle of the room, a series of VIP booths are being built. Behind the new seating is a new, marble Superbook bar, which opened earlier this month. All of the work should be done by the end of the year.

The second phase is similarly adventurous and especially long overdue: The Superbook restrooms are being renovated and a food court is planned for what is now the Eighth Pole bar and Sportsbook Deli.

The renovation of the Superbook was among the top priorities for Westgate owner David Siegel and his company’s chief operating officer, Mark Waltrip. Siegel is a big sports fan but had not made a trip to a sports book counter before buying the former Hilton and LVH. He and Waltrip later toured Las Vegas sports books and found that the Superbook was both an impressive and outdated space. They envied such slickly designed sports books as Lagasse’s Stadium at Palazzo.

“This was the owner’s idea, right from the start,” Kornegay said. “During his first walk-through, he realized the book hadn’t been touched in a really long time.”

Kornegay will continue to provide what he calls an appealing menu of sports-betting options. The Westgate opens its theater during NFL weeks and hosts a massive Super Bowl party. And Kornegay long has been at the forefront of exotic prop bets, especially for the Super Bowl, where you can make such bets as the total number of rushing yards for a backup running back against the total points scored that day by Lebron James.

In addition, the Superbook characteristically offers the usual major U.S. pro and college sports but also posts regular odds on Formula 1 racing, international soccer and European and Asian golf tours.

“The key to these second- and third-tier sports is to be consistent; offer them every week,” Kornegay said. “We’re known for that. We have always had a great betting product, but now …”

He stopped and looked at all of the construction, then added, “All of this work will be worth it.”

That’s a safe bet.

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