Colorado Regulator Issued 32 New Licenses Ahead of Sports Books Launch Date

The Limited Gaming Control Commission, the sports betting and gaming regulatory body in Colorado, authorized 32 new sports books to operate within the state. Among the newly added companies, there are 8 casino and 6 online operators.

Licensing So Far

In February, the Colorado regulator approved 7 land-based facilities to start offering sports betting operations. Pushing for the scheduled launch date to go live with sports books state-wide, May 1, the Limited Gaming Control Commission, during a special meeting held in response to the high number of license applications, issued another 8 licenses for sports books in March.

As of April 1, there were 33 applications from commercial casinos, 12 applying for retail sports books and 19 for online sports betting operations. The latest batch of sports betting licenses made the total number of authorized sports book operators 47, leaving the scheduled for April 16 meeting as the last chance for any other operator, to get licensed and go live with the launch date. The regulatory body did not consider pushing back the launch due to the ongoing health crisis, but may do so during its next meeting.

“We’re still moving everything forward as far as 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.”

Dan Hartman, Director of Division of Gaming, Limited Gaming Control Commission

Big Name Operators’ Presence Guarantee Quality Product

Among the newly-licensed companies are William Hill, Circa Sports, Penn Sports Interactive, Roar Digital, Smarkets and Rush Street Interactive. Out of these 6, only Roar Digital, the joint venture between MGM Resorts and GVC Holdings, and Rush Street Interactive have yet to announce their respective casino partners.

In terms of vendor licenses, there were important additions to the sports betting operational framework. Sportradar, the sports real-data company, was granted a license as a data distributor, while GeoComply, a global leader in geolocation compliance technology, was authorized for geofencing services. IGT, the leading-edge technology solutions provider for the gaming industry, was licensed for providing sports book technology, and two payment processors, Worldpay and Sightline were approved for payments.

Regarding the ongoing health crisis that halted all major sports events around the globe and essentially left sports books with almost nothing to offer, as well as all land-based gaming facilities being shut down due to the virus spread mitigation measures, it is not clear whether the regulator in Colorado would still pursue the initial launch date.

Sports Books On Stand-By

At least 10 pairs of partnerships between an online sports book and a casino are on standby to go live for May 1 launch date. These are Circa Sports and Century Casinos, DraftKings and Twin River, FanDuel and Twin River, William Hill and Eldorado Resorts, PointsBet and Double Eagle, Fox Bet and Eldorado Resorts, theScore Bet and Jacobs Entertainment, Penn Sports Interactive and Penn National, Stadium Technology and Monarch Casinos, and Smarkets and Full House Resorts.