After the U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing sports betting in the state of New Jersey, the Golden Nugget Resort & Casino in Atlantic City immediately went into action to build an immersive sports betting environment.  The casino relied on several partners to transform their venue into a one-of-a-kind viewing and betting experience, including Absen LED.

Joseph Lopresti, Director of Facilities at the Golden Nugget, stated “New Jersey longed for sports betting for years. It was of one of the things that we kind of envied from Vegas for a long time. One of the things that we really tried to do was make it intimate. At the end of the day, we wanted to have the best viewing possible. If you were that close, we want you to be able to enjoy that viewing. If you were sitting further back, we wanted to make sure you had the same experience. And for me, being an avid sports fan, this was an easy project to kick off because I love sports, and this is like the dream—it’s like a mancave on steroids.”

To amplify the viewing potential for their customers, the Golden Nugget brought in KMK as their acoustical consulting and technology design team. Working directly with the casino, the firm utilized their expertise to architect the system design with quality checkpoints from drawing through construction and post-completion, ensuring maximized scale, sitting and adjacencies and optimized performance.

According to Thomas Knauss, President, KMK Acoustics, “This was the shortest fuse that I’ve ever been involved in. We had basically 10 days of design effort; after that, there was 27 days ’til opening.  On the first day of those 27, the room was a different room, it was a poker room. By day 28, it was open, and they were taking bets.”

The overall system consists of four Absen LED Acclaim series 2.5MM video walls, with flat panel displays and a 3×3 video wall located at the cashier’s desk provided by NEC. The video distribution system streams local sports channels through Comcast and hundreds of other sports channels are streamed through DirectTV, with both systems combined and modulated over an in-house distribution system. The Crestron control system allows users to command day-to-day features, such as volume and channel changing, while the four Analog Way processors enable video walls to show either single or multiple images, providing maximum video impact.

Jeff Fink, Mid-Atlantic/Northeast Regional Sales Manager at Absen LED, remarked, “The Absen Acclaim is really pretty much on the market the finest installation product going. Each panel is 27” diagonal. And in a 6×6 configuration as we have [at the Sportsbook], we have roughly a 12’ by 6.5’ screen—very good resolution. Even in close distances, it looks amazing; and at far distances, it looks like a projected image. It is just a perfect solution for a room like this.” Fink further commented, “This project was probably one of the tightest I’ve ever seen. Since we do have actual stock inside of America, it was no problem for us.”

The Sportsbook at the Golden Nugget Atlantic City seats more than 100 guests and boasts more than 50 TVs and 5 video walls, providing immersive, feels-like-I’m-on-the-sidelines experiences. Also featuring numerous self-service betting kiosks and dining and full beverage bar service, The Sportsbook is now the premier locale for boosted parlays and in-play betting across more than 14 sports.

Golden Nugget’s Lopresti went on to say, “I mean, it’s done a tremendous amount for us. It’s now grown in another avenue of customer that we didn’t have before. It’s phenomenal! To watch people come in here rooting and cheering—you can sometimes hear it from across the casino floor, especially when something big happens.  To be a part of this was absolutely phenomenal for me being a sports fan. But now, to walk by and see people enjoying the same things that I do—it’s an unbelievable experience.”