The home of the famous SuperContest soon will arrive in the Colorado sports betting market this year.
SuperBook announced on Monday that it will partner with The Lodge Casino in Black Hawk to enter the CO sports betting market. The Westgate Superbook in Las Vegas operates the SuperContest, one of the biggest NFL betting contests in the country.
Superbook Executive Vice President Jay Kornegay said in a statement his operation has “written the playbook on sports betting.”
“We believe The Lodge is a perfect fit for our initial expansion opportunities outside Las Vegas,” Kornegay said. “We have maintained the highest levels of technology and service in a highly regulated industry. We have written the playbook on sports betting in the United States, and now we will put it in action in Colorado.”
SuperBook’s license to operate sports betting in Colorado appears on the meeting agenda for regulators this week. The sportsbook plans to partner with Jacobs Entertainment to take its brand into Colorado and maybe beyond.
What’s next in Colorado sports betting?
While the coronavirus pandemic continues to shutter sports throughout the world, sports betting in Colorado likely will launch May 1.
Regulators in Colorado still could delay that start this week. Dan Hartman, the director of the Colorado Division of Gaming, said last month that May 1 remains probable:
“We have not really approached the launch date yet,” Hartman said. “We’re still moving everything forward as far a licensing and everything to make sure we reach that May 1 date and are able to go. Those discussions certainly will happen later on, probably in April as this COVID crisis moves forward and we see where the casino industry is at, at this time.”
Other notable names also up for internet sports betting license approval this week include Betfred and BetAmerica.
What CO sports betting will look like
The Colorado sports betting market could provide an intriguing test case for the future US landscape. Mobile sports betting is available statewide, including remote account creation.
Colorado limits physical casinos to three small towns in the Rocky Mountains. As a result, mobile CO sports betting proved the only logical way to proceed. Retail sportsbooks still can operate in Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek.
Each of Colorado’s 33 casinos can apply for a master license, and many already did so. The state’s 10% tax rate on sports betting revenue competes well with the rest of the country.
What does SuperBook bring to Colorado?
Kornegay’s operation gained a national reputation starting back to its days as the Las Vegas Hilton SuperBook. Its physical sportsbook at Westgate is one of the more impressive spaces in Nevada.
The SuperContest brand could prove its strongest asset if approved by Colorado regulators. The $1,500 entry contest yielded a top prize of nearly $1.5 million in 2019.
As with all Nevada operators looking outside the Silver State, SuperBook will need to upgrade its mobile app to compete. That’s because Nevada mobile app technology lags behind that of online-first operators throughout the United States.
Whispers of a SuperBook expansion first swirled almost exactly a year ago. Multiple sources told LSR at the time that the company could enter the New Jersey market. That rumored deal ultimately did not come to fruition.
