Westgate sportsbook to reopen with new video wall

Three days before the Westgate sportsbook reopens and bettors’ adrenaline starts pumping there, Jay Kornegay’s blood was already flowing Monday morning inside the empty book and his heart rate was high.

The Westgate vice president was removing chairs in advance of Thursday’s reopening.

“We’re taking 60 percent of our chairs out to practice social distancing,” Kornegay said. “I didn’t realize these chairs were so heavy.”

The main entrance to the Westgate will open at noon Thursday, when the first 50 people in line will receive $50 worth of free slot play. The back entrance, which leads directly into the book, is expected to open about 10 minutes later, after the line of people files through the front entrance.

“We expect a pretty good race crowd this weekend as we approach the Belmont on Saturday, and a lot of leagues are coming back, including the (English) Premier League (on Wednesday),” Kornegay said. “It’s just still somewhat surreal. We’re reopening this property for the first time in 50 years.

“Every department has been working the past few weeks to prepare for this day and practice new protocols to ensure the safety of our team members and guests.”

New video wall

Reopening day also will double as the debut of the book’s new video wall. Less than five years after the Westgate unveiled the world’s largest indoor 4K video wall at 18 feet tall and 240 feet wide, it has replaced all the screens.

“We get to reveal our new screens. We are excited about that,” Kornegay said. “We replaced the entire wall with new updated high resolution. The clarity and brightness — you probably wouldn’t notice it unless you put the old screen right next to it. But we have because they’re 25 to 30 percent brighter than the old ones.”

SuperContest sign-ups

The Westgate will resume accepting registration for the SuperContest, the prestigious $1,500-entry NFL handicapping contest that has attracted a record number of entries in each of the past nine years.

It Ain’t Breezy won the 2019 SuperContest and $1.47 million grand prize after going 58-25-2 ATS (69.9 percent) to top a field of 3,328 entries.

The Westgate had 97 sign-ups for the SuperContest when Nevada casinos closed March 17 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.