Colorado just became the 18th U.S. state to legalize sports betting, at one of the weirdest moments in the history of the pastime.
All bets were on as of Friday, May 1, though all casinos in the Centennial State are currently closed, and most major U.S. sports are still on the bench.
Luckily, Colorado permits full and immediate participation by letting players register, deposit, bet and withdraw online. All the state’s casinos can offer online and retail sportsbooks, and Colorado also provides for stand-alone licenses for companies like PointsBet, which recently located its headquarters to Denver.
Get 2 risk-free bets up to $200 when you join PointsBet.com! That’s 1 risk-free fixed-odds bet up to $100, and 1 risk-free PointsBet up to $100.
In addition to PointsBet, DraftKings, FanDuel, BetRivers, BetMGM and William Hill all kicked off operations on May 1. At least a dozen other companies will eventually be operating in Colorado, including Circa Sports and Westgate SuperBook, home of the SuperContest, in their first ventures outside Nevada. The operator- and bettor-friendly sports betting rules have opened the door wide for providers.
This one’s on the house. Sign up to play at BetMGM.com, and you’ll get $25 in freeplay, and a first-deposit freeplay match of up to $1,000.
From NFL to Futsal
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, getting just 50.8 percent of the vote.
Sign up as a new player at WilliamHill.com, and your first deposit will be matched up to $150!
While launching right now is certainly problematic, the market eventually could be worth $6 billion a year, with some $400 million pouring into state coffers. That won’t happen with Belarusian soccer, Russian table tennis, English darts and Korean baseball. But the potential for sports betting in Colorado is as big as the Rocky Mountains. Let’s hope for a quick return to the real thing.
