Northern Nevada Business Weekly
Written By: Ray Hagar
Retirement was never in the cards for longtime sports-betting expert Joe Asher when he withdrew as president of Sports Betting for IGT in 2024.
He had enjoyed a three-decade career up to that point, which included his creation of the William Hill US brand, where he was CEO for a decade, and his 2021 induction into the Sports Gambling Hall of Fame.
Still, he wasn’t ready for life of being propped up in a La-Z-Boy, with a blanket across his legs and the TV remote in his hand.
Last year, Nevada’s Gaming Commission approved plans for Asher’s latest venture – Boomer’s Sportsbook, an independent betting operation headquartered at the site of the Commercial Hotel in Elko – with a mushrooming number of satellite locations across Nevada.
“I was never going to retire,” Asher said recently on Nevada Newsmakers about leaving IGT. “But it was a good opportunity to step back and step away. And then I ultimately decided to get back into the business.”
And “the business” is apparently booming for Boomer’s.
His Boomer’s Sportsbook has already opened satellite operations at Ellis Island Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas, Casino Valle Verde in Henderson and Ojos Locos, a casino catering to the Latino community, in North Las Vegas.
Boomer’s also opened in Tonopah, in the historic Mizpah Hotel.
Boomer’s recently established itself in the Northwestern Nevada market at Casino Fandango in Carson City. Later this month, Boomer’s will enter the Reno market at the Bonanza Casino.
“We’re expecting to open there (Bonanza) the middle of the month,” Asher told host Sam Shad. “I think we’re going to have a soft opening around Feb. 13 or so, and then a grand opening event Feb. 17.”
Ryan Sheltra, general manager of the Bonanza, told the Nevada Gaming Control Board last month that he’s “excited to be a part of the Boomer’s family,” according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Although Boomer’s at the Bonanza wasn’t ready for the Super Bowl, it should do a brisk business for the “March Madness” events of the NCAA basketball tournament next month.
“That will be our first entrance into the Reno area,” Asher said. “I couldn’t be more excited to get in at the Bonanza with Ryan Sheltra. It’s a family-owned property, been there over 50 years and it’s a real honor to do business with them.”
Asher’s quick expansion of his Boomer’s operation, however, is only the beginning of his plans.
“The idea is, “Let’s build up a statewide network.’ Maybe it’s two dozen, 30 locations where people can go in,” Asher said. “They can bet right then, but they can also sign up for a mobile account, and then they can bet wherever they are in the state of Nevada, whenever they want.”
Boomer’s is “100 percent Nevada,” Asher said.
“We don’t have operations anywhere else,” he said. “We’re not going to have operations anywhere else. Every single employee lives in the state of Nevada.
“So we’re trying to build out a statewide network of locations where people can come in bet and then importantly, also sign up for a mobile betting account. Because in Nevada, in order to get a mobile account, you must physically go into a casino to sign up.”
Boomer’s was named after Asher’s beloved, departed dog, but it’s a great name with various sports-related references, he said.
“Boomer was a rescue dog who passed on Thanksgiving Day of 2024,” Asher said. “He was 17. He had a heck of a run. So when I was looking to get back into the sports-betting business, I thought we’d name the business after him.
“It’s also a good sports name, you know, with Boomer Esiason and Chris Berman and Boomer Sooners,” he said, referring to the former NFL Bengals quarterback, the longtime ESPN sportscaster and the fight song for the University of Oklahoma athletic teams, the Sooners.
Influence of his father
Sports gambling has always been a part of his life, Asher said. It was a way to bond with his father, who unfortunately, had a gambling problem.
“My earliest memories all involve gambling,” Asher said. “My dad was a gambler, and he loved it so much. My dad loved to go to the racetrack. We’d go to Brandywine Raceway … also to Delaware Park, which is a thoroughbred track, and other racetracks in Delaware.
“He also played cards,” Asher said about his dad. “He’d go to Atlantic City, as well, and gamble in the casinos in Atlantic City.
“And he had a gambling problem,” Asher said. “He was a compulsive gambler. He would gamble for a while, then he’d stop, go to Gamblers Anonymous meetings to try to stop it. He couldn’t control it.
“It caused real and fundamental problems in his life,” Asher said. “He lost his business because of gambling. He had a newsstand in downtown Wilmington (Delaware), but went into debt and couldn’t pay the bills.
“So I have seen very close up and personally the impact that gambling can have on certain people and, you know, their families, as well.” For Asher, however, sports betting and the atmosphere surrounding it became his……
