Colorado Launches Sports Betting Without Sports

Today, Colorado will become the 18th state to offer up legal sports betting – when there’s not a whole lot to bet on. States missed out on millions of dollars in March: Nevada reported a $141.1 million handle, the total amount bet, earlier this week, which is a decline of 76% from the $596.8 million bet in March 2019. April won’t likely be much better, even with the likely historic betting numbers around the NFL Draft. There are four mobile operators going live in Colorado today: 

• BetMGM
• BetRivers
• DraftKings
• FanDuel 

Meanwhile, the state’s retail casinos are all closed for the time being during the coronavirus outbreak. Other operators expected to launch this year are Barstool/Penn National, BetWild, PointsBet, Markets, SuperBook, William Hill, and FOX Bet. While there will be a lack of sports initially, the operators will likely see upticks on May 9 for the UFC 249 event and await the PGA Tour returning on June 11. Until then, they’ll have to rely on Korean baseball, Taiwanese basketball, Russian hockey, Russian and Ukrainian table tennis, and British darts.