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Colorado planning to launch legal sports betting market on May 1

With the spread of COVID-19 throughout the country, American sports has been on hold for some time now, but Colorado is still planning to launch its legal sports betting market on 1 May 2020.

In the wake of the escalating virus pandemic, live casinos have been shut nationwide and Colorado’s commercial casinos are also closed until at least the end of April. The region is still under a 30-day shutdown which Gov. Jared Polis declared last month. This affects casinos all well as other public businesses. This order initially pointed to mid-April for the re-opening of many of the state’s businesses but has been extended to 30 April.

The latest announcement came after a meeting of the Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission (CLGCC) on March 19 where the Colorado Division of Gaming director Dan Hartman said that the launch date for land-based retail, as well as online sports betting is still on target. “Those discussions will certainly happen later on, probably in April as this crisis moves forward and we will see where the casino industry is at the time.” Subsequently, a special meeting of the CLGCC was held by video conference on April 2, during which 32 sports betting licenses were granted to casinos around Colorado.

Colorado shares borders with New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. Of those neighboring states, only New Mexico has legal sports betting. Although some of the areas have a sparse legal sports betting, analysts have predicted that there could be huge revenues for the Centennial State.

Early estimates have the market generating $6 billion in annual total handle, $400 million in revenue and $40 million in tax revenue. For reference, in 2019, Nevada’s total sports betting handle was more than $5.3 billion.

Now, the Coloradans will have the opportunity to bet on several esports tournaments and Dana White announced that he was looking for a “private island” to host scheduled fights.

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