LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Written By: Richard N. Velotta
Joe Asher has been around gambling, casinos and horse racing all his life, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that his new sportsbook, Boomer’s, is named for a horse.
Actually, it’s named for a family dog who took its name from a Canadian racehorse, Boomer Drummond.
Asher figures it fits right in with sports, as a nickname for former MVP quarterback Boomer Esiason, legendary ESPN broadcaster Chris Berman, who goes by “Boomer,” and the University of Oklahoma’s famed Boomer Sooner rallying cry.
Boomer was a rescued Dachshund-cocker spaniel mix who lived to be 17 and died last Thanksgiving. He would hang out with the other Asher family dog with a gambling-related name, Lucky.
Fast forward to summer 2025 and Boomer is immortalized as the name of Nevada’s only independent sportsbook with a home base in Elko and satellite locations at Ellis Island Casino in Las Vegas, Casino Valle Verde in Henderson and Casino Fandango in Carson City.
If Asher has his way, Boomer’s will expand to a couple dozen satellite locations only in Nevada.
With the National Football League season opening this month, Asher elaborated on his career as a bookmaker in an exclusive interview with the Review-Journal. It’s been edited for brevity and clarity.
REVIEW-JOURNAL: The sportsbook market seems to be pretty saturated. What made you decide to bring Boomer’s to life?
ASHER: It had been something I’ve been thinking about since I left William Hill when Caesars bought it in 2021. Every few months somebody would call me and say something like, “Hey, ever think about getting back into the business?” Or “It’s not the same since you left. What are my options for a sportsbook?” Probably in early ’24, I started thinking more seriously about it.
RJ: How did you first become interested in sports betting?
ASHER: My dad was a gambler, so I grew up in Wilmington, and my dad gambled on everything. And so from my very earliest memories, I remember going to Brandywine Racetrack, where the Brandywine name came from, and Delaware Park, the other racetracks in Delaware. I was actually at Delaware Park with my dad the day Spectacular Bid ran in 1979, his first race after losing to Belmont, which would have won him the Triple Crown. His first race back was at…….
