This page contains visitor information about Little Caesars Arena with an emphasis on betting opportunities at the venue.
Little Caesars Arena is a multi-use event center that is the home arena for the Detroit Pistons of the NBA and the Detroit Red Wings of the NHL. It opened in September 2017 to replace The Palace of Auburn Hills and Joe Louis Arena as the teams’ home arenas, respectively.
In this piece, we’ll take a look at the history of Little Caesars Arena and its impact on the world of sports betting. We will also provide contact information for the venue and other important information for visitors.
Little Caesars Arena opened in Detroit in September 2017. It is located just across Interstate 75 from Comerica Park and Ford Field, which are the home stadiums of the Detroit Tigers (MLB) and Detroit Lions (NFL), respectively.
The arena is owned by Detroit’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA) and cost $826.9 million to build. It was named for the Little Caesars pizza chain, which was formed in Garden City, a suburb of Detroit.
Originally, the plan was for only the Red Wings to make the move into Little Caesars Arena, though the Pistons agreed to relocate their home venue in 2016 while construction was underway. With the move, Detroit became the only U.S. city to have four major league sports teams playing in the city’s downtown district.
At capacity, Little Caesars Arena seats 19,515 for hockey games and 20,332 for basketball games. Concerts at the venue can hold crowds of up to 22,000 people.
When the Red Wings moved into Little Caesars Arena, one major point of concern was whether the team could bring the iconic goal horn from Joe Louis Arena into the new building. Unfortunately, the horn wasn’t moved, as it was determined the acoustics in the stadium would make the horn nearly impossible to hear; there were also concerns over the horn’s use of nitrogen to operate, creating a potential safety hazard.
As of 2024, neither franchise has won a playoff game at Little Caesars Arena. The Red Wings have not advanced to the playoffs since the venue opened while the Pistons were swept by the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the 2018-19 playoffs.
Aside from Pistons and Red Wings games, Little Caesars Arena hosts many concerts throughout the year. The venue has also hosted combat sporting events, esports competitions, collegiate athletics events, and figure skating championships.
In March 2024, Little Caesars Arena hosted a Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) game between Boston and Ottawa. With a crowd of 13,736 in attendance, the game set a record for the largest crowd in the U.S. to watch a women’s professional hockey game.
Visitors should know Little Caesars Arena has adopted a no-bag policy; bags, clutches, and purses larger than 4”x6”x1.5” are prohibited, with exceptions for medical necessity. If you have a medical reason for a larger bag, you will be asked to have your bag x-rayed at either the Meijer NW entrance or the Comerica NE entrance.
Little Caesars Arena is also cashless, so you will need a credit card, debit card, or other digital payment option to purchase concessions or merchandise. Reverse-ATM machines are available at Portals 9 and 58 around the concourse.
Yes, wagering on sports is available at Little Caesars Arena. Bets can be made in person at the PointsBet Sports Bar located inside the venue.
Sports merchandising titan Fanatics purchased PointsBet’s North American betting operations in the summer of 2023. It is unclear whether the bar will be forced to rebrand as a result of the change, though the betting software will likely be Fanatics Sportsbook-branded either way.
Additionally, if you’ve got a good enough internet connection, you’ll be able to make wagers directly from your seat, as Michigan sports betting on your phone is legal and live. However, this may not be the easiest option, as the high concentration of people and mobile devices could lead to limited bandwidth while trying to get your bets in.
In January 2021, Little Caesars Arena announced a partnership with PointsBet Sportsbook just 10 days before online sports betting went live in Michigan. The multi-year deal resulted in PointsBet taking over the branding of what used to be Sports & Social Detroit, the sports bar located inside the arena.
PointsBet MI has also acted as a sports betting partner for the Detroit Tigers.
No, Little Caesars Arena does not offer other types of gambling. At its core, Little Caesars Arena is a sports and entertainment venue, not a gambling operator.
While the stadium leases space to PointsBet to allow sports betting kiosks inside the building, Little Caesars Arena does not own or operate the sportsbook.
Any gambling conducted at Little Caesars Arena would need to be conducted at the PointsBet Sports Bar or through a mobile device.
Here is a timeline highlighting some of the important moments in the history of Little Caesars Arena.
