Colorado gaming commission approves sports betting rules and 7 casino licenses

As from May 1, Colorado residents will be able to place wagers on sporting events, after the Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission approved Thursday nine rules and master licenses for the Brass Ass, Double Eagle, McGills and Midnight Rose casinos in Cripple Creek, the Dostal Alley Casino in Central City and the Monarch and Saratoga casinos in Black Hawk.

Voters approved Proposition DD passed in the Nov. 5, 2019 election, by 44,033 votes out of more than 1.5 million cast, to legalize sports gambling in the state.

Operators of the sportsbooks in the casinos must still get licenses to operate within the casinos and offer online wagering under the casino's brand, the Gazette reports. Each Colorado casino can have a sportsbook on-site and three online sites.

The rules define sporting contests on which bets can be taken, including professional, college, Olympic sports, motorsports, and electronic sports, but not high school or club-level sports, or bets on performances by individual college players. The rules also bar bets from people under 21, from bettors outside Colorado and from players, coaches, referees or others on events in which they are participating.

The rest of the rules set out the powers of the commission and director of the Colorado Division of Gaming; taxes and fees that casinos and sportsbook operators pay; security, internal control and reporting requirements; establishing a way for an independent monitoring organization to collect betting data and use it to detect suspicious betting activity; and ways to enforce the rules and discipline those who break them.

The rules were developed in December and January by five working groups that include 77 representatives from casinos, sportsbooks, sports teams and leagues, law firms, consultants, trade groups and others.