Last week’s decision by Colorado voters to legalize sports betting in three gaming towns has led some analysts to posit that mobile sportsbooks in the Rocky Mountain State will closely resemble New Jersey’s when it comes to transactions.
Colorado became the 21st state to authorize sports betting with the hairs-breadth passage of Proposition DD on November 5. The measure passed by 50.2 percent. Analysts say it likely that the towns’ out-of-the-way location, some of them almost an hour from any metro centers, will funnel more wagering onto the mobile platforms.
The law gives the Division of Gaming six months to go live with sports betting.
Between them, the towns of Cripple Creek, Black Hawk and Central City have 40 casinos. The closest is 38 miles from Denver and the farthest is 45 miles from Colorado Springs.
In New Jersey, sportsbook activity is most intense in the far northern and southern parts of the state, with less in the cities. Mobile wagering makes up 85 percent of all sports betting.
One expert, Chad Beynon, a gaming analyst with Macquarie Securities, told investors last week that Colorado’s market will resemble that in the Garden State: “We expect this to be a relative constant, and this shouldn’t be different in a market like Colorado, where weather is inclement in roughly 33 percent of the year.”
Beynon predicts annual sportsbook revenues will range from $214 million to $275 million. Last year Nevada sports wagering was $301 million, compared to New Jersey, which brought in $248 million in the first 15 months of operation.
The Division of Gaming says it’s studying other states’ experiences and will use it “in setting the groundwork for implementing best practices, while keeping in mind the unique needs and wants of the Colorado gaming landscape and industry.”
The 10 percent tax on sports betting profits will be funneled to benefit the Colorado Water Plan.
Several gaming companies have tied increased future profits to sports betting in Colorado, such as Eldorado Resorts, which owns two casinos in Black Hawk, Monarch Resorts, which is spending $400 million to expand its Black Hawk casino-hotel and Full House Resorts, which is adding a sportsbook to Bronco Billy’s Casino in Cripple Creek.
