Lucky Seven: Colorado On The Verge Of Issuing Its First Sports Betting Licenses

Written By Derek Helling on 02/18/2020Last Updated on April 7, 2020
Colorado snowy mountain peeks

Colorado constitutional sports betting is also expected to meet its May 1 deadline. After this year, the state might approve the initial round of sports betting licenses.

An agenda for a Thursday meeting of the Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission specifies seven applicants who are up for consideration. Though the fates of those applications are still unclear, the results of approval or denial are easy to postulate.

Who could have issued the first licenses for sports bets?

Colorado casinos are represented by all seven of the candidates on the plan. They are:

    Monarch Casino Resort Spa, Black Hawk Inc.

  • Black Hawk Casino in Saratoga owned by Kings, Queens, and Jacks LLC
  • d/ b / a Dostal Alley Inc.
  • Double Eagle Resorts Inc., administrator game and double eagle resort
  • dba Brass Ass Casino, Casino Holdings Inc.
  • Holland Ventures Inc., dba J. P. McGill & ’s Hotel & amp, Casino
  • dba Midnight Rose Hotel & amp, Casino Inc.

Uncertainty exists regarding whether the fee intends to review all seven licenses. Only a few or none of them may be approved by it.

The final option, none, would be quite surprising at this point. The commission has said that it wants to do everything it can to help operators go live on May 1.

May 1 is a crucial day because it marks the end of the constitutional sports betting ban. Colorado law forbids permit holders from accepting bets even when they are prepared to do so up until that point.

A crucial phase in those arrangements is obtaining registration approval. Casinos and sportsbook operating partners may spend less money on preparations if that & , even just delayed, occurs.

The application procedure has already started for some of these candidates. That included negotiating industry access agreements with providers of sportsbooks.

Why Colorado & casinos will collaborate with sportsbooks rather than creating their own

These candidates are both based in Black Hawk, Central City, and Cripple Creek. However, not all of them have disclosed their affiliations with casino operators.

In Colorado, that is not a necessity. Games have the option of running their own casinos. Hard Rock and MGM are two examples of blackjack brands that operate in different regions of the nation.

However, even those casinos use betting working software created by other businesses. On those websites, they merely introduce their in-house models to the users.

It seems that the majority of Colorado’s operators, if not all of them, will & , farm out & rdic, their sportsbook operations. The benefit of doing so is that, similar to a finder & , s fee, the casinos receive an amount of money for simply providing the opportunity.

The master licenses, which these casinos have applied for, allow them that freedom for both online and retail applications. For example, Double Eagle has had that kind of a deal in place with PointsBet since last July.

But, not all of the candidates currently have such agreements in place. For instance, Dostal Alley continues to compete in the market.

As time passes, the quantity of users There are fewer people who don’t already have exposure to the Centennial State. However, having a master’s registration could be for two pending applications.

Why these gambling might be competitive in the market

For any candidates who are approved on January 20, this will be a mind start, even though it might not remain long after Thursday’s meeting that the committee approves more licenses. However, a few of the well-known companies, including PointsBet, have now carved out routes into Colorado.

DraftKings and FanDuelare in with Twin River. Jacobs Entertainment is bringing theScore Bet in. Century Casinoshas inked Circa Sports to a deal.

There are others still waiting in the wings with interest in the jurisdiction like Betfred. These casinos getting their licenses would make them tempting options for such operators.

Favor is that the current contracts aren & , t all – inclusive or exclusive for either side, and this is also true of the casinos. For instance, Circa & , s, and FanDuel & rSquo’s deals don’t cover offline operations; they only cover online ones.

Additionally, these businesses are free to strike comparable agreements with various casinos and betting operators. Nothing in these contracts makes such agreements exclusive, there & .

Each operator will need to submit an application to the state for a merchant license. Although less expensive to obtain and maintain than a learn license, these agreements are subject to operator approval.

On Thursday, the process of launching these Colorado-based legitimate sportsbooks might get under way. These sports betting licensees have a much better chance of being among the first to recognize bets in the condition if they get what they want.

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Helling, Derek

Helling, Derek is a lead writer for PlayUSA and the manager of BetHer. He is a 2013 graduate of the University of Iowa and covers the intersections of sports with business and the law.

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