Reel Lives: Circa Sports’ Jeffrey Benson On His Antagonistic Ways, The State Of Sports Betting, And Sunshine Concerns
The outspoken sportsbook director has a whole lot to say
6 min
Every gambler has a story to tell. And so does every person who chooses to make a living in this unique industry.
In our “Reel Lives” series, Casino Reports shines a spotlight on people working in the gaming business, from executives, to analysts, to media members, and all points in between.
The subject in this interview: Jeffrey Benson, the director of operations at Circa Sports in Las Vegas.
Casino Reports (CR): Did you meet President Donald Trump when he was at Circa recently? What was the vibe like?
Jeffrey Benson (JB): No. I was sitting in the second row at the speech, but only [Circa owner] Derek [Stevens] got to meet him. It was wild. It was pretty insane. A lot of security, all that kind of stuff.
CR: All right, enough about that, now on to you: You are not shy on social media. How much of that is you being you, how much of it is you being “Jeff Benson of Circa”?
JB: On the other side of the counter, I think you have a lot of bettors who are outspoken in terms of sharing their opinion, whether that’s unit shaming, or cutting down on people not being sharp, or people saying stupid things. That’s a normal thing for that side of the counter. On this side of the counter, there’s not many people who are really active and engaging, and the ones that are are kind of boring, stuffy, corporate, and politically correct. That’s not really how I operate. I just kind of say it how it is, and if that upsets people, then so be it.
I think I’ve been able to build a good following by being a little antagonistic, but that’s kind of my personality, at least on Twitter. It’s also a little self-serving in the sense that sometimes I’ll highlight other books that are limiting people so that we can get business. We’ve only been in business five years, and being able to do things that highlight what our value propositions are and what differentiates us from other people, I’ve had to be a little antagonistic or maybe cut down other places, maybe more so than I otherwise would have.
CR: Was this part of the plan when you were hired for this job, or did it just kind of happen?
JB: No, I didn’t even have Twitter when I started. But when you look around at the industry, if you have a question, it’s like, “Who runs DraftKings, who runs FanDuel, I’ve got a question for the people at MGM, who am I asking?” Here, there’s a real answer: Jeff Benson. If someone has a question, they go right to me.
Matt [Metcalf, Circa’s original director of the sportsbook] really started that in the early stages of Circa. Matt was doing a lot of that, he was mixing it up with people, and over the years I’ve kind of taken that over. Just being able to ask questions on limits or events or when markets are going up, I found that was a good way to connect with people that not many in the industry are doing on the side of things.
CR: You’ve previously said Metcalf taught you everything you know. Are there any specifics or things that you remember that really set in cement the way you handle your business?
JB: You never know who you’re talking to. I was a 23-year-old ticket writer at Palace Station, probably arrogant, cocky, probably an a**hole, but I gave him great service. I always had the NASCAR lines ready. I had his Super Bowl prop packet printed, things like that, and I had no idea who he was. He was just a professional bettor at the time. I would say you never know who you’re talking to or who will have the ability to help you take the next step in your life.
His goal when he opened Circa — and brought me on to help run the front of house — he wanted to treat all bettors, whether recreational or sharp, with a level of customer service that hadn’t been seen in the industry. Obviously he bet professionally for a long time, and he’s been treated as a cast-off just because he’s a winning bettor. With everybody he brought on, he wanted to have the mindset to serve the customer and really treat them like somebody who we’re trying to earn their business.
I’ll go to the ends of the earth to try to get people down. I’m committed to helping get people down. I think that’s what he created when he started Circa Sports, probably one of the biggest lessons he ever taught me.
CR: Is this a 24/7 job for you?
JB: One hundred percent, 24/7, 365 days. Sports betting never sleeps, and people want to get down whether it’s 3 a.m. or 3 p.m., whether it’s Sunday or Wednesday. I’m committed at all times to answering questions, helping our customers. I think that’s gone a long way to helping grow our business.
CR: Have you taken a vacation since you’ve been there?
JB: I have not. Maybe I’ll take a little small vacation after March Madness this year, but it’s kind of been nose-to-the-grind to try to grow the business as much as we can over the past few years.
CR: Getting your start writing tickets, do you think you’d be as successful as you are if it wasn’t for seeing it from the ground up?
JB: No, I think starting at the bottom and working your way through, you have a unique perspective for what every position within the organization does. I think you’re able to ultimately relate to your employees more, and you’re able to provide a better service to the customer because you’ve written tickets, you’ve been a line supervisor, you’ve been a manager in the front of house, and now you’re all the way up. The whole journey helps make you who you are, and starting at the bottom in any organization helps you garner respect once you get to the top.
CR: Let’s talk about the recreational model. Where’s the balance down the road for you guys? If you end up in 20 states, do you see the need to try to draw in things like single-game parlays?
JB: I don’t think we’re ever gonna be FanDuel or DraftKings, but I think there are certainly things we can do to increase the depth of our menu. I think there’s things we can do to modernize the app, and ultimately offerings we can add, whether that’s SGPs, cash-out features, more props, and in-game wagering on every sport, every league. That will allow us to get more market share than what we’ve got up to this point. Is it going to change the core competency of what Circa Sports is? No. I think it’ll just continue to ultimately add to what we’re doing.
CR: What do you think of the competition?
JB: I think FanDuel does a pretty good job, more so than DraftKings. You’ve seen that in terms of the difference in market share, particularly over the last couple of years. FanDuel, for the most part, they do limit people, but the limits that you can get on FanDuel are more respectable than you can get on ESPN Bet or DraftKings.
Then when you look at a book like BetOnline, they have a ton of markets, but they also originate a lot of markets and they take a fair bet. So I think there’s a world where you can have this sort of hybrid model. If we’re able to add more of the things that I mentioned, it just helps us increase our handle, get more players, get more visibility, and become maybe a little bit more competitive with some of the other people in the space.
CR: You’ve been in this business since before PASPA got repealed. Is there any one thing that jumps out at you, from the last five or six years, that surprises you about where we are today?
JB: A lot of times I’ll reference that I still think we’re in the first inning, and I think that’s the case for a lot of reasons. The user experience you can get from state to state varies massively, so there’s not a ton of consistency. I still think a lot of shops do things that continue to drive money offshore. The limiting is a huge epidemic.
I think when you talk about bettors, when somebody rolls their ankle in the first five minutes, screaming bloody murder, and they want to void and things like that — I just think we’ve still got such a long way to go for a number of different reasons. I think 10 years down the road the industry will look a lot different than what it looks like today. Maybe DraftKings and FanDuel aren’t even the top two books in the space.
Reel fast!
If you weren’t in this industry, what would you be doing?
Probably real estate.
The Circa pool is beautiful. How many hours a year do you spend sitting in a chaise out there?
I spend all of zero hours. This body was not made for Stadium Swim. I need a lot of sunscreen to avoid burning, so I spend almost no time up at Stadium Swim.
What places in the world that you have not seen would you love to visit, assuming you ever take a vacation?
Hawaii or Bora Bora.
We going flip-flops, we going sandals, or are the toes always going to remain covered?
I’ll wear sandals if I’m on the beach.
If you ever do take a day off, what would you do?
Sit on the beach and relax, or play a round of golf.
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You can keep up with Jeff’s on Twitter/X, where he is known to burn dissenters with the same viciousness with which the sun burns him.
Previous installments of Reel Lives:
Jesse Learmonth On Startups, Awards Shows For Startups, And Fatherhood
Kelly Kehn On Entrepreneurship, The Value Of Diversity, Paying It Forward, And Broadway
Gina Fiore On Gambling, Writing, Starring In A Documentary, And Explaining Her Job To Her Son
