Westgate Las Vegas Superbook to have ‘totally new look’ after renovations

By Case Keefer (contact)

Saturday, May 30, 2015 | 2 a.m.

Gamblers may not recognize Las Vegas’ biggest race and sports book a few months from now.

That’s the plan anyway. The Westgate Las Vegas Superbook will undergo a transformation within two weeks that will conclude around Sept. 1, two days before the kickoff of college football.

“We’ll have a totally new look for football season,” Superbook Executive Director Jay Kornegay said. “The basic outline is going to stay intact, but everything else is going to be completely different.”

For starters, the race and sports books will switch sides. The sports book will occupy the east wing of the 30,000-square-foot facility where the race section currently resides, and vice versa.

The Westgate is replacing all 60 of the screens in the book, swapping out the current projection systems with LED video walls. New seating areas will be arranged in front of the displays.

The betting counter will also be replaced, complete with a new operating system for the house.

Finally, the Superbook is getting a new bar and VIP boxes in a location where there are currently slot machines in the back of the room.

“We’ve done a lot of research over the last eight months or so to figure out how we wanted to upgrade,” Kornegay said. “Now it’s just a matter of putting it all into place.”

The work brings the first major renovations at the Superbook since Kornegay took over operations in 2004. They were part of the promises made last year when Westgate acquired the resort formerly known as LVH, Las Vegas Hilton and The International.

Summer is always the slowest time of sports books’ year, making it a logical period for change.

“It’s going to be a challenge but there’s no better time to do it than June, July and August,” Kornegay said. “We’ll still be able to show the games, but the current betting counters won’t be utilized. We’re moving the counters to our fan zone.”

Kornegay stressed that final details are still being discussed. Some longer-term plans, including wholesale changes to food and beverage offerings, will wait until the summer of 2016.

But expect a noticeable facelift implemented before the 2015 football season.

“The Westgate has done a number of upgrades that have been fabulous to our property,” Kornegay said. “There was so much that needed to be done, and the changes they’ve made have been terrific. We’re just excited it’s our turn.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.