Nothing is normal in this country right now. There are no professional sports, people are not going to work, and instead, they are staying in their homes. But, normal will be back at some point in time, and the state of Colorado is working hard to make sure the new normal includes legal sports betting.
Dan Hartman, who is the director of Division of Gaming in Colorado met with the Limited Gaming Control Commission of Colorado last Thursday to discuss that latest. This quote comes from Mr. Hartman:
“We have not really approached the launch date yet,” he said. “We’re still moving everything forward as far a licensing and everything to make sure we reach that May 1 date and are able to go. Those discussions certainly will happen later on, probably in April as this COVID crisis moves forward and we see where the casino industry is at, at this time.”
Much like the rest of the country, including the betting capital of the country – Las Vegas – all Casino casinos have been shut down through mid-April.
As of the meeting, the state of Colorado had a total of 16 licenses approved for 11 different companies. Twin River came away with three master licenses: Premier Entertainment Black Hawk as well as Full House Resorts. The folks at Full Horse Resorts say they play to open up sports betting with Churchill Downs’ Bet America, Wynn Resort and Smarkets.
We have heard several times that Twin River is going to make sure they work with both FanDuel and DraftKings to provide sports betting entertainment to their state.
As of the meeting on Thursday; the three big names that received the license in the state of Colorado included FanDuel, Fox Bet and Points Bet. Points Bet was the only one of these three that also received their license for land-based as well.
Fox Bet is operated by the Stars Group and will have access to the Eldorado Resorts. Interestingly, Eldorado Resorts also has a deal in place with William Hill.
Points Bet looked to work with Double Eagle Casino, although many in the industry are saying that them launching a sportsbook in May is doubtful.
What to Bet On?
The next question is – what will folks in Colorado bet on when May 1st arrives… That, of course, is the million-dollar question all over the industry. The Major League Baseball season was due to start on March 26th. The Colorado Rockies were scheduled to start their 2020 season in San Diego for a four-game series against the Padres. That, of course, has been nixed.
The Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche were both having great seasons. In fact, both teams were playoff teams and both teams championship contenders. The Nuggets were in third place in the Western Conference, at 43-22, while the Avalanche, were just points behind the St. Louis Blues in the Central Division, with just a dozen games to play.
While dates have not been released at this time, the Denver Broncos were scheduled to play the AFC East and NFC South, as part of their crossover. Of course, the defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs are on their schedule for home and away game.
