Not so fast, Stoolies: the Barstool Sportsbook app won’t be available for sports betting in Colorado next week, or likely even this year.
Penn National‘s Ameristar Black Hawk sent a tweet out Monday with the Barstool Sportsbook hashtag that set off speculation.
Penn certainly hopes everyone is still as excited when they realize mobile isn’t part of the CO sports betting launch. This is just the official opening of Ameristar’s permanent sportsbook. The casino has run a temporary sportsbook since June 23.
“Mobile sports betting will come later,” said Eric Schippers, Penn’s senior VP of public affairs. “It will only be retail sports betting at our new Barstool Sportsbook for now.”
No surprise Barstool Sportsbook not focused on CO
Truth is, we knew Penn likely wasn’t launching Barstool Sportsbook into the mobile Colorado sports betting market next because its CEO said as much.
Michigan is the only other state getting a Barstool Sportsbook mobile launch this year, according to Penn CEO Jay Snowden in a recent interview. The brand first launched in Pennsylvania last month.
Colorado is one of six other states listed in a Penn National investor presentation detailing upcoming mobile sports betting launches:
- Colorado
- Illinois
- Indiana
- New Jersey
- Virginia (scheduled for January launch)
- West Virginia
Who is already live in Colorado sports betting?
There are plenty of mobile sportsbooks already operating in Colorado. The market has ramped quickly since its May 1 launch and already topped $200 million in handle last month as NFL betting season arrived.
The state doesn’t break down market share by operator in its monthly reports. There are plenty of big names that can capture decent market share:
- BetMGM
- BetRivers
- DraftKings Sportsbook
- FanDuel Sportsbook
- Fox Bet
- William Hill
The market’s low cost of entry and 33 available licenses brought in different sportsbook brands that haven’t launched as widely as the big names:
- Betfred
- Circa Sports
- Smarkets
- Superbook
Barstool Sportsbook performance so far
September was an ideal month for Penn to launch Barstool Sportsbook into the PA sports betting market as the state hit a new handle record.
Barstool Sportsbook took 7% of the $462.8 million bet in Pennsylvania last month despite a Sept. 18 launch. The brand also dished out $2.2 million in free bets during that time, only trailing DraftKings and FanDuel in promo spending.
Snowden told Fantini Research retention rates were great through mid-October and believes Barstool is growing the market.
“We think we’re largely growing the market, which is very important, as opposed to just stealing share,” Snowden said. “That Barstool audience is very loyal. So we’ve been growing the market, from what we can see and what the data is telling us.”
