Colorado chooses Legal Sports Betting – When will it begin?

Colorado voters narrowly approved a referendum on November 5 legalizing sports betting, but what everyone in the Mile-High State wants to know is when will they be able to place their first legal real money bets on the Avalanche, Broncos, Nuggets or Rockies?

Proposition DD eventually passed the referendum by 40 000 votes out of the almost 1.5 million votes cast in a very close result. Interestingly, most of the state’s 64 counties gave the sports betting proposal the thumbs down. However, online and land-based sports betting gained enough support from Colorado’s most populous areas, including Denver, Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas, and Jefferson Counties.

However, the referendum results won’t become fully official until November 27, but the vote isn’t close enough to trigger a recount of ballots. Even after overseas military ballots and provisional ballots are counted for the next 10 days, the ‘Yes’ campaign is over the line. Significantly, no additional legislation is needed before sports betting becomes legal. However, legal sports wagering won’t start immediately. The Colorado Division of Gaming must firstly establish regulations and licensing procedures for the state’s new sports betting operators.

All 35 Colorado casinos are expected to open a physical sports book, whilst most will also potentially apply for an online sportsbook license too. Online sports betting operators will require a land-based casino partner for their license, that could possible range from casinos to kiosks and large licensed sports bars.

When/How Can You Expect Colorado Sports Betting to Begin?

The Colorado Division of Gaming anticipates that regulations will be in place by spring 2020 and that they should be in a position to license operators and give them a systems-testing period before accepting the first bets when sports betting becomes legal on May 1 2020.

It is anticipated that you will be able to place sports bets anywhere in the state of Colorado, thanks to cutting-edge geolocation technology for your mobile devices, including cell phones. The passage of Proposition DD into Colorado law marks a significant geographic expansion of gaming in the Mile-High State. Sports bettors will be able to place a bet on a game from the comfort of their living room couch or while sipping an ice-cold Coors at Mile-High Stadium watching a Broncos game. It is expected that from a mobile sports betting app, you will be able sign-up, fund or withdraw from their account and use the sports betting app without ever having to set foot in a Colorado casino.

You will be able to place wagers on just about any sporting event you see fit with the exception of high school sports, prop bets on college games and eSports that are not sanctioned by a sports-governing body.

What Will Sports Betting Do for Colorado?

The fiscal impact statement for Proposition DD estimated Colorado sports book operators could possibly generate $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion in bets during the first fiscal year, which begins July 1. Of that money, Colorado State legislators expect the newly created sports betting market to generate state government revenues of between US$6 million and US$15 million per year in the first three years of sports betting legalization, a figure that could potentially reach US$29 million as the sports betting market matures into full uptake.

The bulk of the money raised will go to the Colorado Water Plan, a list of projects agreed to by legislators to help prepare for future population growth in Colorado and make the state more resilient to climate change. Some of the money raised will also go to behavioral health services for the Mile-High State’s residents and addiction hotlines for problem gamblers.