The last known major hurdle has been cleared before Colorado opens sports betting.
In a meeting on Thursday held via Cisco WebEx, the Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission (CLGCC) approved new definitions for NCAA prop bets for inclusion into its master catalog, just in time for the May 1 launch of sports betting in the state.
The Sports Betting Catalog lists all the events that sportsbooks in Colorado will be allowed to take wagers on.
Prop bets defined
According to Colorado’s gaming rules, sportsbooks cannot take NCAA wagers on events that do not directly lead to the outcome of contests. But could sportsbooks offer bets on how many corner kicks a soccer team will have in a match or the winner of the coin flip in a football game?
The CLGCC resolved that on Thursday.
Here is the language that was approved in the emergency rule-making hearing defining prop bets:
“1.4 Definitions. (15) “Proposition (Prop) bet” means a bet SPECIFICALLY NAMING AN INDIVIDUAL PARTICIPANT, OR IF A TEAM SPORT, A SPECIFIC POSITION ON A TEAM, THUS CONSTITUTING A BET UPON THE ACTIONS OF THAT INDIVIDUAL OR
POSITION, regarding the occurrence or non-occurrence of a certain outcome during an event that does not directly reflect the event’s final outcome.”
During the discussion part of the meeting, Commissioner Richard Nathan said: “By making the change that we made, which made clear that what we were talking about was individuals, we believed that issue has been successfully addressed.”
Licenses approved
As is the norm for the CLGCC, each of the licenses up for vote were all approved.
In whole, the Commission approved a whopping 31 licenses — from manufacturer/distributor licenses to master and vendor licenses.
Longtime Colorado journalist and columnist Woody Paige had The Woody Paige Sports Network approved for a first vendor license.
Some of the other notable names approved for licenses were Pat McAfee Inc. (named after the former NFL punter) and PayPal.
Apps set for launch
Division of Gaming Chairman Dan Hartman said during the meeting that there are six apps set for launch on Friday. However, only four should be up and running come the official start at 10 a.m., barring any technical glitches.
Those four apps are:
- FanDuel — partner with Golden Gates Casino
- DraftKings — partner with Golden Mardi Gras
- BetMGM — partner with Midnight Rose Hotel and Casino
- BetRivers — partner with J.P. McGill’s Hotel and Casino
It’s almost here
Now that final hurdles are cleared, Colorado is about to become the 18th state to allow some form of legal sports betting.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has definitely made all of this more interesting, but it’s just about time.
“The whole division really deserves a big pat on the back for making this happen,” Hartman said during the meeting. “It would have been a chore even without the pandemic. … Everybody stepped up and I’m really proud of what we’ve done.”
Added CLGCC Chairwoman Kristen Blessman: “It’s nice to have a bit of celebration given everything going on.”
