‘We see this as the future’: Sports betting lands at a strip mall in Malvern

Sports bettors in January wagered a Pennsylvania state record $793.7 million. About 93% of all bets were placed online, which has been the norm since sports betting apps started arriving in the commonwealth in the summer of 2019. It isn’t surprising, since you are either reading this on your phone or it’s less than an arm’s length away.

The preference of the public to wager online didn’t stop Parx and Chickie’s & Pete’s from opening the first race and sportsbook outside a casino or a racetrack in the United States.

On a rainy February weeknight, the recently opened Chickie’s & Pete’s in Malvern has a good dinner crowd. It’s a mix of families with young children, groups of middle-aged men, and thirtysomething couples.

“I can just bet on my phone,” was the common consensus of the people I asked about the Parx Race & Sportsbook.

While so much about sports betting is about dollars, this was about senses. Since March 2020 and all that has followed, the experience of watching a game in public while all five senses are engaged is priceless.

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Olfactory recollection is when a scent triggers a memory. The smell of Crabfries immediately transports me to right field at Citizens Bank Park on a summer day, or walking around the concourse before a game at the Wells Fargo Center. Crabfries are a signature Philadelphia game-day scent. You don’t have to be Craig LaBan to know that Crabfries aren’t the best dish on the Philadelphia food scene, but for some reason, they just taste better when you are watching a game. Like beer from the tap just tastes better, and the first few sips never disappoint, even if the home team might.

There’s a TV everywhere you turn at Chickie’s & Pete’s in Malvern. Horse racing is always on. The talking heads eventually yield to the Villanova-UConn game and eyes widen with anticipation of an epic Big East matchup.

Then there is the actual touching — high fives, handshakes, and people sharing appetizers while watching games. That has always been the beauty of sports, it brings us together. There is only so much swiping we can do on our couch before we crave something more … and maybe some Crabfries.

How did we get here? Parx moved and scaled back operations of the permanently closed Oaks Race & Sportsbook. It tried to move the South Philadelphia Race & Sportsbook inside the Chickie’s & Pete’s on Packer Avenue but was denied zoning approval. However, it is pending appeal.

When Parx got approval for the race and sportsbook in Malvern from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board in November, Joe Wilson, the chief operating officer of Parx Racing, made a bold prediction.

“We see this as the future for both retail sports wagering and sports betting,” Wilson said.

Are we in the future already?

“Having a proper sportsbook inside of Chickie’s & Pete’s, the No. 1 sports bar restaurant in the United States, in a strip mall in the suburbs of Philadelphia is a big deal. It’s the first of its kind and it is truly the beginning of mainstreaming regulated legal sports betting in North America,” said Wayne Kimmel, managing partner at SeventySix Capital, a Conshohocken-based venture capital company that invests in tech startups in sports, esports, and sports betting.

I asked a few parents of smaller children what they thought of a sportsbook being in a restaurant. It was met with a shrug and none had a problem with it. The 600-square-foot sportsbook area with tellers and kiosks is partitioned off from the restaurant. When I entered the sportsbook, an employee kindly asked me for identification and if I had any children in the car. Children being left unattended in vehicles has been a big problem at Pennsylvania casinos and one that regulators are working hard to address.

Katie Kohler is the Managing Editor at PlayPennsylvania where she writes about sports betting and casinos. Follow her on Twitter at @kkohler1129.