With NFL neighbor on the way, Mandalay Bay spruces up sports book

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Christopher DeVargas

A look at the Mandalay Bay Race & Sports Book, Friday, Sept. 22, 2018.

Sat, Sep 29, 2018 (2 a.m.)

When you are about to become neighbors with an NFL team, there is reason for excitement. For the sports book officials at Mandalay Bay, that also brings reason for renovations.

The property is the closest to the stadium site across the Interstate 15. The planned monorail extension’s last stop will be at Mandalay Bay, meaning thousands of extra visitors will be in the property on game days.

“When the Raiders get here, we’re going to have some fantastic crowds,” said Mike Piranio, director of race and sports book at Mandalay Bay.

The first step in the enhancements occurred earlier this month with the upgrading of the large screens adorning its book’s main wall. One screen, reaching 31 feet diagonally, is flanked by two 28-foot screens that can be split into fours to allow for multiple games to be displayed.

Panasonic Laser projector screens offer high-definition imagery with no lamps to replace or filters to clean like a traditional LED screen.

“The projectors are unique — they are new technology and I don’t think anyone else has them,” Piranio said. “They’re really bright. You get the LED brightness without the LED pixilation.”

And when a Las Vegas team is playing — from UNLV to the Golden Knights and Raiders — Mandalay plans to have those prominently displayed.

“We like to support our teams,” Piranio said.

That local spirit shines through when the Golden Knights play, as the book is filled with fans, which creates an arena-style feel, he said. Even weekday games attracted large crowds, which Piranio says is highly unusual.

“It’s not just the weekends like football,” he said. “Now with the hockey, even regular season, we’ll see big crowds.”

Although he wasn’t ready to release details, Piranio said more upgrades are in the works — all in anticipation of 2020 when the Raiders arrive.

“If you’re coming to a game at the stadium from any hotel property on the Strip, I anticipate fans that travel, say like from Green Bay or Pittsburgh, that don’t actually have tickets, they’ll go ‘Let’s go to Vegas,’ because they know fans will be pumping into here.”

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