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Colorado became on Friday the latest state in the US to be offering legal sports betting after the Supreme Court invalidated a long-standing federal ban on the practice nearly two years ago.

Wagering via retail and digital channels was authorized in the Centennial State last November when voters approved the legalization of the practice in a statewide referendum.

State regulators were tasked with licensing interested sports betting operators and readying the market for May 1 opening, a challenging task they said Friday they were relieved to have achieved.

Unlike other states, Colorado is getting into the US athletic gambling fold amid a very specific situation and at a time when the coronavirus has paused nearly all sports (and pretty much all contours of life as we know it).

With all of the state’s casinos being closed amid the global pandemic and residents being urged to stay home and practice social distancing, Colorado offers them the opportunity to place bets digitally.

Four online sportsbooks were launched in the state on Friday, the first day of legal sports betting, and more are expected to follow suit later this month.

The Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission has issued nearly 20 licenses for the provision of online sports betting services, so the state is clearly poised to host a busy marketplace once the local betting sector matures and things get back to normal, or at least back to some relative normalcy.

Four Online Sportsbooks Now Active in Colorado

Colorado now has four operational online sportsbooks and more are expected to arrive soon. BetMGM and BetRivers were the first brands to go live with betting products in the newly opened market.

BetMGM is owned by ROAR Digital, the joint venture between Las Vegas casino giant MGM Resorts International and British gambling group GVC Holdings.

ROAR Digital announced Friday that it has signed an exclusive primary skin agreement with Midnight Rose Hotel and Casino in Cripple Creek. Sports betting operators must sign such skin agreements with local land-based casinos in order to be able to operate on the territory of Colorado.

Of their launch in the Centennial State, ROAR Digital CEO Adam Greenblatt said that they “look forward to offering Colorado sports fans the excitement and ease of betting with BetMGM and working alongside Midnight Rose Hotel and Casino to provide top class betting experiences in the state of Colorado.”

BetRivers, owned by Rush Street Interactive, the online gambling division of regional casino operator Rush Street Gaming, was too among the first entries in the new market. The betting brand has partnered Triple Crown Casino in Cripple Creek to offer wagering in Colorado.

Commenting on their debut in the state, Rush Street Interactive President Richard Schwartz said that they have achieved success in other regulated markets because they focus on offering “a high quality product with exciting sports betting options, knowledgeable customer service, and an overall friendly approach that treats every player with honesty and care.”

Arch-rivals DraftKings, which became a publicly traded company just a couple of days ago, and FanDuel also announced their launch in Colorado on Friday.

The Centennial State became DraftKings’ seventh market in which it offers sports betting services. The company’s Co-founder and President, Matt Kalish, said that they are “thrilled to introduce Colorado’s passionate sports fans to DraftKings Sportsbook” and that customers across the state “will always have a number of year-round, skin-in-the-game opportunities to engage with the premier sports betting experience DraftKings prides itself on.”

DraftKings has been able to enter Colorado through a partnership with Twin River Worldwide Holdings, which operates the Golden Gates, Golden Gulch, and Mardi Gras casinos in Black Hawk.

FanDuel, which too has teamed up with Twin River, was the fourth online sportsbooks to greet Colorado sports fans for the first time on Friday.

The gambling group’s Chief Marketing Officer, Mike Raffensperger, said in a statement that “Colorado is home to a passionate group of sports fans and we are incredibly excited to show them why FanDuel is the number one sportsbook in the country.”

Aside from its real-money gambling offering, FanDuel is also offering the ANYTHINGBOOK free-to-play game that tests sports fans’ knowledge in sports and pop culture.

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Kieran Trippier has been charged with misconduct by the Football Association (FA) due to betting breaches.

The charges relate to the period of July 2019 and the England footballer has until 18 May to provide a response.

The former Tottenham Hotspur defender, who now plays for Atletico Madrid in Spain, is said to have broken two of the FA’s rules.

The first rule involves a footballer not being allowed to bet, or directly or indirectly enable a person to bet on a football event.

The second rule involves passing on information to aid another person betting on football.

In March, former England international Daniel Sturridge was suspended from all football-related activity for four months, after being found guilty of breaking the FA’s betting rules.

Gambling consultant Steve Donoughue believes UK retail sports betting will see a lasting impact after the COVID-19 crisis subsides.

Speaking with Gambling Insider for the May/June edition of its magazine, Donoughue explained that while all changes in betting behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic had the potential to be permanent, the shift away from customers physically visiting betting shops could have a lasting impact for retail-reliant operators.

He said: “Land-based is going to suffer as people will switch to online and may never return.

“Land-based depends on people making a visit to their venue as part of their regular schedule. Once that stops being regular, things will change.”

When asked if retail sports betting had the potential to recover post-COVID, Donoughue said he thinks this is doubtful.

He explained: “I can’t see it going back to the way it was. There will always be a market for retail sports betting. But will it be one that is sufficient for the number of shops we have now? I doubt it.

“I predict a 50% drop over the next few years.”

Despite this outlook, Donoughue had some inspirational advice for sports betting operators in the UK.

“Keep your nerve,” Donoughue urged. “We will get through this. Sport will return.

“Be innovative but don’t be greedy or desperate as the Government is waiting to pounce.”

The full feature will appear in the May/Jun edition of Gambling Insider magazine. Click here to read when available. 

With the absence of major sport due to the coronavirus pandemic, not only are gaming firms looking to other verticals, they’re looking to new products.

No sports markets to bet on? Don’t worry, you can try Simulated Reality with Sportradar, while the latest product on offer is LSports’ Tennis Betting Simulator.

That’s the thinking behind the strategy, anyway, and Gambling Insider caught up with LSports co-founder and COO Dotan Lazar to find out more.

Could you tell us more about your Tennis Betting Simulator? What was the thinking behind the product?

As you know, the sports betting industry is pretty much non-existent at the moment, with not many events to offer. Everyone is pushing casino and virtuals today. We’ve been working on a product for the past two or three months and released it last week, where we basically rewind past tennis events – and soon it will be basketball events, too. We changed the names of the teams, so you don’t know the real events that took place or real players. But, once the event is over, we reveal the real names in our official page, and also in the widget and feed itself, so the players can tell what they placed a bet on.

For example, a real event that took place in 2019 between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, we call the event Serena Williams vs Maria Sharapova. And once the event is over, we tell the bettors which real event took place; so if you want to dispute anything, we have all the data, facts and figures publicly out there. This means we can’t manipulate the data in any way.

Does this product run with virtual graphics?

There are no animations, it is not a replay like virtual sports but we do use real data in the streaming and play-by-play. There are visualisations, developed by us, LVision. It generates visualisations for sports based on AI and machine learning. These visualisations tell you where the ball is at any given moment, with heat maps. If you look at the betting industry, you’ll see that in tennis you don’t have high-level visualisations. You only see who is serving and that’s it.

Is the product focused on pre-match or in-play betting?

It’s only in-play betting. Pre-match, we open the event five or 10 minutes before it starts and, from the point it starts, you have the odds and you have the score. We offer four different kinds of tournaments – best-of-five, best-of-seven, best-of-nine and best-of-13, which is a full set. So we keep it short and keep it 10-15 minutes between events; with the full set 20-25 minutes.

So if the original match was a best-of-five setter, your event would only be a small section of it?

Exactly, a small section of it up to one set. If it was a best-of-three match, we would offer five games within the match – whichever five games they may be. We offer the odds from the moment we start, with the same values and correlation as the real event.

Is there even a remote chance a bettor, with a hypothetically photographic memory, recognises which match is being played out!?

There is no such option. Literally, none! We offer over one million events, ITF, ATP, WTA, so there’s no such chance. Throughout the visualisation, nothing is recognisable except for the fact the score is 2-0 or 3-0 to an opponent. But in that situation, you have hundreds of thousands of such events in tennis, so the chances are literally zero.

How does this product compare to virtuals and esports, and how do you feel it stands out? What does it do to attract a sports bettor when there are several alternative options?

Virtual is pretty much grey. There is a lot of argument around virtuals; you have the license from the regulator and everything else. But, with us, it’s straightforward. You have all the facts already and we can’t manipulate you in any way. We tell you what you wagered on and we reveal it completely. No one has really got a focus on tennis like this. You have e-FIFA and e-cricket even. You have e-tennis coming up soon but, still, no one has taken the glove and really lifted tennis to the next level. With our visualisations and in-depth data, it’s like a real event.

We’re going to do this with NBA and NCAA soon, too. According to what we see, the numbers look great. The money has shifted, since you don’t have real football events you have an increase in 300% or 400% in virtuals and casinos. That means the money’s out there; you just need to attract people back to real sports. Seeing as you don’t have that, I want to fill it up with content we already have: reliable content.

Are any operators already using this product?

Yes, absolutely. We already have customers online with it, one of them is BtoBet – their numbers look great.

So if this product is well-received, is this a simulator for the long term or just to fill the sporting void during the coronavirus pandemic?

The main goal is to make this product ‘happy hour’ on Monday and Friday, where you have less events. On Mondays, you have half a day with no events at all. This way, you’ll offer football, NBA etc. It’s the same for other products. I don’t know how e-FIFA will develop after the pandemic. Just like our product, it could be 100 a day still after the pandemic. We are looking to fill gaps.

Is there the potential to expand to football or other sports?

That’s the plan, we’ll offer visualisations on everything including American football, US sports, football, volleyball as well. We’ll offer everything with visualisations, historical data and make the best of it. We really aim to be at the front of innovation in the sports industry, as a company.

The English Premier League has tentatively proposed 8 June as the earliest potential return date for top-flight football in the UK.

The plan would depend on Government advice, with games to be played behind closed doors and all those involved tested for coronavirus – which would rely on testing equipment being much more readily available by June.

Players would need three weeks to regain match fitness and the aim would be a June restart, with the aim of completing 92 league matches in around five weeks.

Given the hectic schedule, this could equate to one game every three days and would surely require an increase in the number of players allowed in Premier League squads.

This schedule is further complicated by UEFA’s desire to complete its Champions League and Europa League competitions, as well as the Football Association’s desire to see out the FA Cup.

Despite the complications, however, should this ambitious scenario go ahead, sports betting companies would receive a long-awaited boost to their operations and revenue streams. So what do the plans mean for sportsbooks?

A return to action

While five weeks’ worth of one football division doesn’t sound too promising on the face of it, and will unlikely be anywhere near enough to recoup the overall loss of major sport this summer, Premier League football is often the bedrock of sports betting activity.

If full rounds of fixtures take place every three days (or thereabouts), sportsbooks could be looking at doubling the revenue of their normal pre-coronavirus week (where weekends have the majority of matches with less games scattered across the week). This is not to mention the fact other leagues could then also follow suit.

Instead of relying on minor sports like table tennis for revenue, as many are currently doing, sports betting companies would be seeing the conclusion of one of the most revenue-generating leagues in global sport. Naturally, though, this revenue would likely be limited to online sportsbooks and not yet retail locations, depending on the state of the UK’s lockdown.

The absence of sports betting has left gamblers missing the ability to place a wager on the teams and leagues they follow, so sportsbook activity could show unprecedented levels during this five-week period as players celebrate the return of a cherished pastime.

Of course, many sportsbooks have turned to esports and virtual sports to fill the void left by sports betting. Those with online casino and poker arms have also been able to fill the void to some degree.

But for sports betting companies whose lion’s share of revenue comes from traditional sports, a return to action will be vital. Bookmakers will also still be able to offer outright markets as an added bonus, if Champions League, Europa League and FA Cup football continues.

Problem gambling and reduced disposable income

This, however, is an area that could pose sports betting operators some dilemmas. With responsible gambling measures and compliance rightly becoming an ever-increasing consideration, a greater spotlight is falling on gaming companies as more people become homebound due to isolation and social distancing.

While Premier League betting will be a casual experience for a majority of players who have simply missed backing their team or predicting the outcome of weekly matches, the risk of problem gambling will increase significantly if there is a major game right around the corner for five weeks straight.

VIP managers will also be under considerable scrutiny and will have to reduce the temptation to treat high-income players as cash cows in a bid to reduce the overall impact of COVID-19 on a sportsbook’s balance sheet.

The truth, especially by June, is many gamblers will possess a reduced disposable income due to the global situation. Sports betting operators will have to balance the potential for record revenue within a short space of time and the reality that, in some cases, they may be generating revenue from people who can ill afford to gamble in the current climate.

Will the Premier League conclusion become a reality?

Of course, the biggest immediate consideration is whether the Premier League’s plans are actually too ambitious at this stage.

Being at the mercy of a deadly virus causes great uncertainty for all involved and, should another major wave of new cases surface in the UK before June, the Premier League season could be in jeopardy of not finishing at all – a possibility all stakeholders have been aware of to date but one they have been hopeful does not come to pass.

All sports betting companies can do for now is put plans in place for staffing, technology and marketing in advance of a June resumption, while acknowledging the possibility it may not actually take place.

If it does go ahead, with greater regulatory and media scrutiny likely to fall upon operators, they would be well-placed to introduce greater responsible gambling policies specifically for this exceptional, unprecedented period.

Meanwhile, any companies simply waiting for sports to return are best-advised to seek out alternative revenue streams, like the aforementioned esports, virtual sports, online casino and poker, if they haven’t done so already.

But while the Premier League’s plans do not yet offer any concrete certainty, they offer the hope sports betting organisations needs right now.

Revenue from gambling on esports is estimated to double to $14bn worldwide in 2020, according to new research.

Research from global consumer research agency 2CV and market researcher ProdegeMR suggests the popularity of betting on esports, which generated revenue of $7bn in 2019, will rise as players look for alternatives as sports betting is laregely suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak.

A survey of more than 1,000 gamblers in the UK found 59% had reduced their spend on gaming, with 32% saying they have looked for new things to bet on.

The research found 36% of players have wagered on esports in the past three months, with 30% starting within the last month; 62% of those who haven’t yet invested in esports say they need more information.

The research also found that, by 2022, the number of esports viewers is estimated to rise to 644m worldwide, up from 454m viewers in 2019.

2CV Technology and Entertainment Research Director, Martin Bradley, said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has led to many forms of sports associated with gambling being cancelled or postponed, but is also a big opportunity for esports to get in front of this audience.

“Short-term growth is likely to come from sport-based games, but there are huge opportunities to make this more long-term; as long as consumers are educated properly on esports and what it can offer, as well as considering which kinds of events are best suited to a particular audience.”

FanDuel was not the only betting operator to receive the green light from the West Virginia Lottery to offer political betting, according to emails obtained by The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register.

According to said emails, the Lottery approved betting on political events on April 7 for FanDuel and BetMGM, which operate in West Virginia through a partnership with The Greenbrier resort, and for DraftKings, which operates in the state through a partnership with Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races.

Last Tuesday, FanDuel briefly offered to its West Virginia customers the opportunity to place wagers on the upcoming US presidential election. However, the operator was told to pull its election markets just a few hours after these were rolled out.

On the next day, April 8, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, whose family owns The Greenbrier, decried the authorization of political betting, calling the move “ridiculous”, “ludicrous”, and “humorous.”

Timeline of the Events Leading Up to the Short Life of Political Betting in WV

According to emails obtained by The Intelligencer, Erich Zimny, Vice President of Racing and Sports Operations at Hollywood Casino, sent a proposal for elections betting to the Lottery. Mr. Zimny wrote that the gambling venue and its betting partner, DraftKings, “would like to explore the possibility of offering political props on major election markets.”

The casino official’s email to the agency went on that they all understood the Lottery has bees treading lightly on political betting so far and that this would be new ground for everyone involved, but “in the struggle for markets to bet into these days, we’re looking for what’s out there that could entice some interest.”

Political betting is legal across many European markets as well as in Canada, but US regulators and lawmakers have been extremely cautious on the topic.

DraftKings sought to offer betting on the US presidential election, winners of state presidential primaries, winning political parties nationwide and in each individual state, US Senate and House of Representative races, the over/under on congressional seats, the number of electoral college votes, and voter turnout.

On the afternoon of April 7, David Bradley, the West Virginia Lottery Deputy Director of Security, sent an email to DraftKings Senior Manager for Sportsbook Operations Jake List, saying that at the Lottery, they have been discussing the authorization of wagers for political markets and their restriction to federal political markets and no state or local elections.

Mr. Bradley sent a similar email to John Sheeran, Director of Risk and Trading at FanDuel.

Later that afternoon, DraftKings, FanDuel, and BetMGM all received emails from Mr. Bradley informing that they can move forward with elections betting plans.

By the evening of April 7, FanDuel’s election betting markets were up and running.

FanDuel Ordered to Pull Its Election Markets

After receiving regulatory green light, FanDuel promptly launched its election betting markets. In a press release announcing its new offering, the operator said that they were proud to “have partnered with the West Virginia Lottery to bring these markets into a legal, regulated sportsbook where bettors have appropriate protections.”

FanDuel offered betting on the presidential election winner, the Democratic nominee winner, the Democratic Vice President nominee, and the winning party. However, users of its app noticed that the markets were pulled about two hours after they went live.

In addition, DraftKings and BetMGM both received emails from Mr. Bradley to hold up on elections betting as the Lottery was re-considering its decision.

After pulling its political betting markets, FanDuel released a statement saying that “while the markets were approved, the West Virginia Lottery has asked FanDuel to refrain from offering the markets until they have time to fully work through the implications of this new market offering.”

Under West Virginia law, betting on any election is illegal. The state Code reads that “it shall be unlawful to bet or wager money or other thing of value on any election held in this state.” People caught wagering on political events face misdemeanor charges and a $50 fine.

The Director of the West Virginia Lottery, John Myers, took the blame for authorizing elections betting, even though the practice is prohibited under state law. The Lottery official said that he thought “it would be okay, but after review, it was clearly a mistake.”

Mr. Myers went on to say that they “just screwed up” and that he did not have the authority to do it and he apologized to everyone affected.

Source: Emails Reveal W.Va. Lottery Approved, Then Backtracked on Elections Betting

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Colorado’s sports betting space just got one more major player as the state’s wagering regulatory framework is just weeks away from being enforced.

News emerged this past Monday that Jacobs Entertainment, Inc. has teamed up with SuperBook to bring the legendary Las Vegas sports betting brand to The Lodge Casino in Black Hawk, Colorado.

SuperBook currently operates a retail location at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino and a wagering app throughout Nevada.

Pending regulatory approval from the Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission, SuperBook and The Lodge Casino will operate a retail sportsbook as well as a betting app that will be available to bettors located within the Centennial State.

The partnership with The Lodge Casino marks SuperBook’s first foray outside Nevada. The sports betting brand has been part of the Silver State’s sports betting scene for more than two decades now.

Following a May 2018 ruling of the US Supreme Court that invalidated a federal ban on athletic gambling, SuperBook is now looking to expand in new states.

Commenting on their expansion plans, Westgate Las Vegas Vice President of Race and Sports Operations Jay Kornegay said that they are not looking to operate in every state, “just the jurisdictions that make financial sense.”

Of their partnership with The Lodge Casino, Mr. Kornegay said that they have been working on it for months and that “things got tripped up over the last couple of months because of other things in our world, but we’ve come to an agreement.”

Sports Betting Coming to Colorado

Colorado has limited casino gambling at venues located in Black Hawk, Central City, and Cripple Creek, with all three being small mining towns in the Rocky Mountains. There are a total of 33 operational casinos in these three towns.

They can all partner with out-of-state sports betting operators to offer online and retail sports betting. And many of the state’s casinos have already announced partnerships with wagering companies.

The Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission began issuing sports betting permits this past February. The regulator has issued nearly three dozens of licenses since then.

Colorado’s sports betting rules are on track to take effect on May 1. However, with all major sports brought to a halt, licenses casinos and their wagering operators will probably wait for a while before going live with betting offerings.

Mr. Kornegay said that they originally planned to go live with mobile betting on May 1, but since they are dealing with “unforeseen circumstances” (just as the entire world), they have decided to push back the launch of their product in Colorado.

Mr. Kornegay clarified that they will be ready to operate “when we know it’s safe for everyone, and […] at least one major league restarts play or starts play.”

Gambling industry analysts mobile betting to have a big impact on Colorado’s gambling sector as its wagering legislation permits instant remote registration. This means that bettors can open accounts with the state’s mobile sportsbooks without having to first register at a brick-and-mortar facility.

Other states that permit remote registration, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Indiana, have seen mobile handle account for 70% of overall handle this year. According to Mr. Kornegay, figures in Colorado will exceed the above figure due to online registration and the remote locations of the state’s land-based casinos.

SuperBook to Bring SuperContest to Colorado

As part of its partnership with The Lodge Casino, SuperBook will also be able to introduce its highly popular SuperContest product to Colorado sports enthusiasts. The original SuperContest is run from the Westgate Las Vegas. It is a pro football handicapping contest that pays out to the top 100 finishers.

In Nevada, participants can enter the contest after paying an entry fee of $1,500. In Colorado, the SuperContest will be a standalone contest, which means that there would be no proxy entries and will have an entry fee of $500. The product needs approval from the Limited Gaming Control Commission.

Source: SuperBook Set To Enter Colorado Sports Betting Market

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