Colorado last week became the 18th U.S. state to legalize sports betting as the state’s industry was launched. Despite the fact that all casinos are currently closed in Colorado, players could participate online since Colorado permits full and immediate participation by allowing players to register, deposit, bet and withdraw online. All Colorado casinos are permitted to offer online and retail sports books, but also provides for stand-alone licenses for companies like PointsBet, which recently located its headquarters to Denver.
The terms are also reasonable in Colorado, with a $54,000 operating fee for 2020 and a 10 percent tax rate. DraftKings, FanDuel, BetRivers, BetMGM, William Hill and PointsBet all launched on May 1, despite the lack of sports to bet on. At least a dozen other companies will eventually be operating in Colorado, including Circa Sports based in Downtown Las Vegas and Westgate SuperBook, home of the SuperContest, in their first ventures outside of Nevada. The operator- and bettor-friendly sports betting rules have encouraged the entry of a wide selection of operators into the state.
Exotic sports will also get more visibility in Colorado than virtually any other state. Sports like futsal, floorball and pesapallo will be available for betting, but the state has many options for eSports bettors as well—Call of Duty, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, DOTA2, E-Nascar, League of Legends, NBA2K, Overwatch and Rainbow Six have all been approved by the state gaming commission.
Ironically, sports betting narrowly passed a referendum in November, garnering just 50.8 percent of the vote.
