Although there isn’t a whole lot of activity to keep sports gambling fans happy right now, things will, eventually, recover. Sports leagues will get back onto the fields and courts and sportsbooks will start putting up the lines once more. In some places, this could begin sooner rather than later, as the top two soccer leagues in Germany are now ready for a re-launch. In anticipation of the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and the global shutdown it caused, Colorado has been busy getting its sports gambling processes in place, and casinos that were awarded licenses have been busy looking for some assistance to manage the operations. One of the most successful sportsbooks in Nevada is now ready for expansion and is set to be one of the first entities to launch in the Centennial State. Provided it meets with regulatory approval, SuperBook will be able to start taking bets at The Lodge Casino in Black Hawk when Colorado’s sports gambling market goes live on May 1.
Sports Handle reports on an announcement by David Purdum with ESPN regarding the company’s Colorado coup. Specifics regarding the arrangement weren’t released, but SuperBook, which currently operates only out of the Westgate in Vegas, will immediately be able to capitalize on a sizable market that is gambler-friendly. Colorado is going to allow digital user registration, which means gamblers don’t have to travel to a physical location in order to identify themselves before being able to place bets. This has worked well in other states, like New Jersey and Pennsylvania, that have similar procedures in place, and states that require a trip to an authorized casino are finding that ramping up their sports gambling markets is going to take longer than anticipated.
Jay Kornegay, the VP of race and sports operations for the Westgate, explains, “The casinos operating in Colorado are in remote areas, unlike Nevada and the Strip. They are mountain towns, so the remote signup option Coloradans have for mobile apps is vital. To have that convenience of signing up for a mobile app from your couch rather than go to a physical location like you do in Nevada is big … Most of our handle, 95 percent will be mobile” in the state.
In the western half of the U.S., Nevada rules the sports gambling scene – not surprising since it was the only state to be authorized to accept legal sports wagers for decades. However, some industry analysts believe that Colorado has the potential to jump ahead of the Silver State in terms of sports gambling revenue, and the SuperBook could be able to capitalize substantially from operations in both states.