Potawatomi Announces Opening Date For Sportsbook, New Poker Room
New venues, opening May 3, will mark the completion of the casino's $190 million renovation.
Sportsbook rendering. Photo courtesy of Potawatomi Hotel & Casino.
Mark your calendar. Potawatomi Hotel & Casino has set a grand opening date for its retail sportsbook and poker room. The new venues, scheduled to open May 3, will mark the completion of the a $190 million renovation project at the casino.
The 14-table poker room and Las Vegas-style sportsbook are located in the space previously filled by the Northern Lights Theater on the first level of the casino, 1721 W. Canal St. Construction began on both venues in September 2023 while a temporary sportsbook opened elsewhere in the facility.
Dominic Ortiz, CEO of the hotel and casino, said that the new additions have been highly anticipated. “The city has been asking, they’ve all been waiting for poker to come back,” he told Urban Milwaukee in September.
The poker room will feature a variety of games including 1-3 No Limit, 2-5 No Limit and Pot Limit Omaha. It will also offer promotions such as Hourly High Hand Jackpots and Bad Beat Jackpot.
Ortiz also touted the “sheer ambiance” of the venues — particularly the 6,500-square-foot sportsbook, which seats more than 200 and features a 2,000-square-foot LED screen, broadcast booth and more than 20 TVs measuring up to 98 inches. Kiosks and ticket writers will be available for casino guests at the sportsbook.
Sean Cullen, director of the sportsbook, said he believes the new venue will make Potawatomi “a top travel destination in the Midwest.”
“There is not a retail betting space outside of Las Vegas that can compete with the high-end venue we’re unveiling on May 3,” he said. “With the 75 kiosks we currently have, we are #2 in the country for gross gaming revenue of publicly reporting sportsbooks.”
The sportsbook will also offer food and beverages, with 48 beers on tap including Dealers Choice Potawatomi Pilsner, the product of a collaboration with City Lights Brewing Co., which brews its beer only a few blocks away. The venue will share its food and beverage services with the neighboring poker room.
“We are excited to bring the next level of an entertaining sports betting atmosphere to our guests,” Ortiz said in a statement. “We appreciate the patience our guests have given us while we build out these two extraordinary projects. I can assure them, it will be well worth the wait.”
Potawatomi leadership announced that the opening of the new venues will be the final stage of a large-scale renovation project that cost the casino nearly $200 million.
Earlier stages of the project included an overhaul to the casino floor, which added 1,800 more slot machines, a high-limit gambling room, a Starbucks cafe and Rock & Brews restaurant from KISS band members Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons.
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