The Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission granted seven state casinos during its Thursday meeting with the right to start offering retail and mobile sports betting services.
The gaming regulator in Colorado, as initially expected, along with final approval of rules for the sports betting regulatory environment, issued the first batch of casino operators with master licenses to start legally accepting wagers on sporting events, keeping the state on track for the May 1 planned launch of live sports book operations.
Colorado Casinos
Colorado has more than 30 casinos plus 2 tribal venues, most of which are located in three mountain cities, Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek, and out of these at least 28 casinos reportedly applied for a license to the gaming regulator.
The Limited Gaming Control Commission approved for license:
- Midnight Rose Hotel & Casino, J.P. McGill’s Hotel & Casino, and the Brass Ass Casino, all three in Cripple Creek and operated by Triple Crown Resorts, with no partnership deal in place for sports book operations;
- Double Eagle Hotel and Casino in Cripple Creek, whose sports book will be jointly operated with PointsBet as the casino and the online sports betting platform entered into a deal back in July 2019;
- Saratoga Casino in Black Hawk, whose brick-and-mortar and online sports betting operations will be powered by the British gaming operator Betfred;
- Monarch Casino Resort Spa in Black Hawk, and;
- Dostal Alley Casino in Central City.
Each master license costs $10,000 before applying, plus a $125,000 license fee on approval, and is giving the casino the right to offer retail sports betting and one mobile sports book skin, with operators of the mobile sports betting must still get licenses to operate within the casinos and offer online wagering under the casino’s brand.
More Licenses To Be Issued Soon
The competition for the wager of the state bettor is expected to heighten, as there are a few applicants that are not among the first seven licensed, but already have sports betting partnership deals in place.
- Twin River has three casinos in the state, the Golden Gates, Golden Gulch, and Mardi Gras, and deals in place with rivals DraftKings and FanDuel;
- Full House Resorts that have a casino in Cripple Creek and a deal with Wynn Resorts;
- The Lodge Casino in Cripple Creek that have a deal with theScore, and;
- Century Casinos who have land-based gaming facilities in Cripple Creek and a partnership deal with Circa Sports.
Tribal Casinos
The Southern Ute Indian and Ute Mountain Ute tribes that operate the two state tribal casinos, under the terms of their state compacts, are not obliged to apply for a license, being able to offer any class III gaming, the category sports betting falls under, provided it is available elsewhere in the state, but only within their sovereign reservations, and as mobile betting constitutes gambling beyond their reservations, their casinos would likely not be able to offer mobile sports books.