Colorado Sports Bettors are Off and Running

Back in November of 2019, Colorado voters went to the polls and passed Proposition DD by a very narrow margin. In doing so, Colorado became the 23rd state to pass sports betting legislation. Additionally, they became the 9th state to approve online sports betting.

Under the guidelines of the new law, the Colorado Department of Revenue, Division of Gaming was set up to oversee the implementation of sport betting regulations for both land-based and online sports betting operations. They were also put in charge of issuing licenses to qualified lawmakers, most notably Colorado casinos.

Moving forward, the hope has always been the Division of Gaming would have legalized sports betting up and running for Colorado bettors by May 1 of 2020. Mission accomplished.

In the face of the COVID19 pandemic, both the government and prospective bookmakers continued moving forward towards its objective of the May 1 starting deadline. While Colorado’s land-based casinos are still being shuttered, there are now four online bookmakers that officially started taking bets by the beginning of May. The four licensed online bookmakers are FanDuel Sportsbook, DraftKings Sportsbook, BetRivers, and BetMGM. The challenge now is to provide Colorado sports bettors with something on which to wager.

After one week of accepting bets on whatever sports have been available (think UFC 249), all reports are that everything is running very smoothly. Aside from the fact betting activity is extremely limited, Colorado residents and legislators are pleased to see things moving in the right direction.

Dan Hartman, the director of the Colorado Division of Gaming has this to say about the smooth opening:

“We really didn’t see any or hear any (missteps or errors) that would have given us any issues or that would have given us any thought that there would have been.” While conceding it was strange to not receive calls about issues, he went on to say: “I wasn’t really looking at my phone, but I was looking at it more than normal on a weekend.”

Hopefully, Colorado sports bettors won't have to wait long to start wagering on professional sports. England's Premiere and Champion soccer leagues have already set up a tentative restart date of June 1, 2020. The NBA is looking at ways to finish the current season while Major League Baseball is in negotiations with players for a possible start of the 2020 season to begin around the first part of July.