Casino Battle Heats Up With Boxing

Friday, July 21st 2006, 10:23 am

By: News On 6

The casino fight just got a little more interesting as the Osage Nation introduces boxing. The Million Dollar Elm Casino is the site for a nationally televised match between Tulsa native Allan Green and Anthony Bonsante.

News on 6 business reporter Steve Berg says when the new Indian casinos started opening, the goal was to be "just like Vegas". Boxing they say is the natural next step.

Lights, Camera, Action. Workers are scrambling to put some finishing touches on the brand-new events center at the Million Dollar Elm Casino on 36th Street North in Tulsa. Trying to beat the other casinos to the punch in the promising new business of boxing. "I believe the first casino to build a venue of this nature is going to get a lot more business." Not surprisingly, the man behind it all is Tony Holden, a longtime local boxing promoter who has had good success nationally and who grew up in Miami, Oklahoma.

He says Tulsa is ripe for boxing. "I helped design a casino 90 miles from here called the Buffalo Run casino and we built a venue center like this. In a small town it sells out every show. And it evolved to outdoor show where we did Rascal Flatts and had 17,000 people, so in Tulsa, absolutely."

"We are so excited to open a facility like this to bring a complete entertainment package to Tulsa." Byron Bighorse will manage the events center for the casino. He says boxing will help fill in any gaps in gaming. "You have your ups and downs, your good months, your bad months. We just want to diversify our whole entertainment value."

Tony Holden: "What works for Vegas works for here and Vegas is absolutely dominant in entertainment." The casino says gaming and boxing tend to feed off one another. But they expect they'll also attract sports fans that would otherwise have no interest in coming to the casino.

And they say they're not done yet. Byron Bighorse: "We have a master plan, hotel plans, really big plans."

The Osage Casino plans to have about 24 events per year at the events center. Some boxing, some not. There has been other boxing in Tulsa. The Creek Nation Casino on Riverside has had some "outdoor" bouts, but with this kind of venue, the Osage are upping the stakes.