Sports Betting Now Offered at Hooters Hoping

Hooters Hoping to Offer Sports Betting Sports Betting

Hooters Keen to Become a Location for Sports Betting

By Blake Roberts Founder & Editor in Chief Updated: 16 April 2022

Blake Roberts Founder & Editor in Chief

Blake Roberts is the founder of Betting.US and is currently heading the creative team as Editor in Chief. Born and raised in Morgantown, West Virginia, Blake is a great sports fan, with football and basketball being his favorite. He’s our trusted voice for all betting-related matters.

See Full Bio

The famous sports bar chain, Hooters, is keen to become a location for sports betting, according to recent reports.

The popular chain believes that offering sports betting facilities will bring in more guests and will provide greater convenience to sports fans that visit its venues. The Hooters venues are already popular with sports fans for viewing the action but could become more than just a place to watch sports if they’re able to start offering betting opportunities.

Officials from Hooters said that allowing sports betting would also mean that those visiting the premises would most likely spend longer at the venues and buy more while they were there. This could prove hugely beneficial for the company and would add to the experience for sports fans, according to Hooters officials.

Promoting Sports Betting Platforms

Hooters is already in deals with a number of well-known operators to promote their platforms at its venues. These include PointsBet and DraftKings. In addition to promoting these platforms at Hooters venues, a lot more space inside the restaurants is now dedicated to gambling content.

Sal Melilli, CEO of Hooters of America, said:

We’re definitely in the early innings of sports betting, right? And for our particular case, on the Hooters’ side, we’re such a destination place, and we’re such an experience that really it lent itself to be a natural fit for us and for sports betting partners.

He added that with the Hooters brand already being strongly linked to sports entertainment, being able to offer sports betting facilities would enhance the experiences of the huge numbers of sports fans that already frequent Hooters, as well as bring in new customers.

At present, more than two dozen Hooters restaurants across five states promote gambling, but the chain has 80 venues in destinations where sports betting has been legalized, meaning there’s plenty of potential to expand.

A Great Add-On to Improve Customer Experiences

According to Melilli, offering sports betting facilities at the venues would be a great add-on to improve the experiences of customers. However, Hooters will not make any money directly from offering sports betting at its venues. It will benefit in other ways such as encouraging customers to spend more time at the venues, which means that they are likely to spend more money.

The offering would also help to boost the reputation of Hooters as a great venue for sports fans, as it will expand the company’s offerings to consumers.

More customers are likely to come through the doors if sports betting is offered, and many people who do not regularly visit the restaurants and bars might start to do so as a result of being able to place bets.

The CEO also said that more customers had already been coming into venues during March Madness and the NFL season, which indicated that having sports betting facilities in place would pay off. However, he said that the NFL season would give a better indication with regard to whether it was worth pursuing their efforts.