The Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission (CLGCC) approved 18 master, internet and/or retail sports betting licenses on Thursday, including those for BetAmerica, Betfred and SuperBook.
The meeting was the last scheduled for the CLGCC before sports betting goes live in Colorado on May 1.
Nine other licenses also were granted for major and minor sports betting vendors during the meeting.
Thursday’s meeting was held via Cisco Webex and was open to the public, as required by law, to anyone who accessed the link provided by the CLGCC.
BetAmerica, Betfred and SuperBook
The license approval for the trio of BetAmerica, Betfred and SuperBook help to pave the way for even more options for Colorado sports bettors starting in just over two weeks.
It was announced Monday that SuperBook would be branching out of Las Vegas for the first time as it is pairing with The Lodge Casino in Black Hawk. The plan is to have both an on-site sportsbook and an online option.
Betfred is planning on handling the retail and online operations for Saratoga Casino Black Hawk. BetAmerica, which is owned by Churchill Downs, has yet to announce which casino(s) it plans to partner with.
Sports Betting Catalog
Among other issues discussed and passed was the state’s Sports Betting Catalog. The catalog will list all the events that sportsbooks in Colorado will be allowed to take wagers on.
The actual catalog has not yet been made available to the public, but the commission did state that it was massive and included all the major sports, esports and lesser sports such as darts.
One question brought up regarding the catalog had to do with NCAA prop bets. According to Colorado’s gaming rules, they cannot take NCAA wagers on events that do not directly lead to the outcome of contests. For example, Can they accept 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?
With no college sports going on right now, they did not reach a final resolution on the question.
Planning for May 1 launch
Despite the fact that nearly all professional and college sports are suspended with no end date in sight due to COVID-19, sports betting still will launch on May 1 as planned.
As for what the public will be able to wager on, it appears that when it comes to the major sports it could be only futures wagering. Although the PGA Tour did announce plans to restart its season on June 11, without spectators, for at least the first four Tour events.
When will casinos reopen?
It remains unknown when casinos in the state will reopen.
At the end of March, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis issued a stay-at-home order that remains in effect until at least April 26.
And earlier this week, Polis said easing restrictions would be done in phases, but did not give a time frame for when that would begin or how it would be done.
Operations fees
Also approved during the meeting was a $54,000 operations fee for each of the 25 organizations with internet sports betting licenses. The 19 brick-and-mortar locations with sports betting licenses will be charged a $12,500 fee.
