“I know that everything I do on the daily, from never forgetting what it was like to be a ticket writer so I can help from these guys go from zero,” Aufill said to Sports Handle during a lull in action, “because you have to think – everybody that I hired had never done this before. He shuttles in and out of the small closed-off space adjacent to the cage. Then he is in conversation with one of his ticket takers.
The next, checking something on a computer. One moment, he’s talking to a bettor on the VIP line. The 1-8 matchup between Illinois and Loyola of Chicago has already tipped off, but it is still a busy Sunday of college basketball action with seven more tournament games on the docket - plus the usual March doings of golf, NBA, NHL, spring training baseball, and assorted futures bets that will be placed.īehind the ticket takers is Hugh Aufill, Hollywood’s sportsbook manager, in a constant state of motion.
Three ticket takers are actively accepting wagers as a steady stream of bettors queue during the second round of the NCAA tournament. In the cramped space that is the “cage” of the Barstool Sportsbook at Hollywood Casino, social distancing can best be described as challenging in what looks to be about 300 square feet of space.