New home, sweet new home.
After a 13-game road trip to start the season, the New York Islanders finally return home to UBS Arena, their new $1.1 billion-dollar arena, to begin a four-game homestand by facing the surging Calgary Flames at 7 p.m. Saturday. The arena's opening comes at a time when mobile New York sports betting could be just a few months away.
The Islanders opened the NHL season on BetMGM Sportsbook NY at +1800 odds to win the Stanley Cup. Since then, their odds have shot up to +2200 with 8.3% of tickets and 12.3% of handle by BetMGM bettors.
Opening, Current Odds for Isles
To win the Eastern Conference, the Islanders opened the season at +1000 and currently ticked up a notch to +1100 with a 17.9 ticket percentage and a 20.8% handle percentage with BetMGM NY bettors. New York is off to a 5-6-2 start, last in the eight-team Metropolitan Division going into Friday.
In the very near future, the state's betting landscape will expand with the advent of New York mobile betting apps.
The Empire State’s providers are: BetMGM NY, Bally Bet, DraftKings NY, Rush Street International (parent company of BetRivers), FanDuel Sports Betting NY, WynnBET NY, PointsBet Sports Betting NY, Caesars Sportsbook NY and Resorts World.
The Islanders, who were one win away from reaching the Stanley Cup Finals a year ago, are looking to snap a four-game losing streak against the Flames (9-3-5). The Isles are right back at it Sunday, hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Goodbye, Nassau Coliseum
UBS Arena is replacing Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale as the team’s home. The Islanders co-own the new building with Oak View Group, a recently established sports and live entertainment company founded by longtime sports exec Tim Leiweke and renowned music manager Irving Azoff. Former New York Mets COO Jeff Wilpon is also part of the building’s ownership group.
New York is 4-4-2 over its past 10 games, averaging 2.1 goals per game while giving up 2.4. The Islanders are slight favorites to start life with a win in their new arena, at -115 on DraftKings Sportsbook NY compared to -105 for Calgary.
With the opening of their new home, the Islanders are hoping to turn around a slow start with some much-needed energy and enthusiasm from the fans and community in their new home.
