Colorado allows gambling in casinos and online sports betting and is moving towards allowing online casino wagering.
Colorado allows gambling in casinos and online sports betting and is moving towards allowing online casino wagering.
Colorado does not currently allow any casino gambling online. There are however brick-and-motor casinos in Colorado for residents and visitors to enjoy. Nearly 40 casinos in Colorado now provide roulette, poker, craps, and slots for gamblers to try their luck. Numerous casinos in Colorado include hotel, eating, and entertainment in addition to being open 24 hours a day. The three mountain casino communities in Colorado are accessible and enjoyable for the whole family.
The state also legalized online sports betting on May 1, 2020, meaning anyone within the Colorado state limit can now gamble legally on sports from the comfort of their own home.
The following sportsbooks are currently available in Colorado:
As mentioned, there is no online gambling options for casinos in Colorado. There are however plenty of inland casinos to choose from.
The three mountain casino communities in Colorado are accessible and enjoyable for everyone. Within a mile of one another, Central City and Black Hawk are situated about 34 miles west of Denver. Colorado Springs is 48 miles to the west of Cripple Creek. To and from Denver and Colorado Springs, a number of casinos provide affordable round-trip transportation; many of these packages also include complimentary beverages and gambling tokens.
There are also two casino-resorts operated by Native American tribes in the communities of Ignacio and Towaoc in Colorado’s Four Corners area. Historic sites and the breathtaking American Southwest landscape are beside the casinos.
Online betting is a novelty in Colorado with the state only legalizing sports betting via websites or apps in May 2020.
However, the precedents for betting on sports online in other states have been set and Colorado has chosen to follow these. This means anyone who is within Colorado state lines can place a bet, regardless of whether or not they are a Colorado resident.
The most important factor for the regulators and, therefore, for the sportsbooks is proving that the person placing the bet is over 21 (see below) and that they are within the Colorado state lines.
Like the pioneer states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Colorado have adopted GeoComply in order to verify the location of their sports bettors. This piece of software detects the location where a sports bet is being placed and can ensure that someone using a Colorado sports betting app is inside of Colorado. Now add Kansas to the list too!
GeoComply is built into all Colorado sports betting apps. There is no requirement to download any additional software if wagering on a mobile device. If you are playing on a desktop or laptop computer then you must download the GeoComply software once. That is however enough for multiple different sited. For example, if you download GeoComply when opening a FOXbet account in Colorado, then you need not download again when opening an account at DraftKings Colorado.
Opening an online casino account to gamble in Colorado is a very simple process. However, it can require some basic verification checks. These are done in order to protect both the casino and the player. These will always be done either on initial registration of an account, or before a first wager is processed. This is in order to ensure that the casino is not accepting bets from players who are ineligible to wager at Colorado Casinos.
The basic requirements for opening an Online Betting account in Colorado are:
The above requirements are done by providing the casino with the following information, which will be required on sign up for all Colorado Betting Casino accounts:
When providing this information, the casino can verify the identity of a player and that they are eligible to bet online.
Many people balk at the idea of being asked to provide additional verification documents for online betting but everything is done in order to comply with the Colorado gambling laws.
The Colorado Casinos themselves are duty bound to handle all gamblers information with care. They must never divulge any details to any third parties. The same security and safety procedures that are in place when you share your information with the Casino or Hotel in Colorado are in place for protecting player data online as well.
The Casino may, therefore, request the following verification information:
These documents are used to check against databases for identification purposes and to verify that no-one is either trying to open an account fraudulently in someone else’s name, or that the player has either been banned or excluded from gaming at Colorado gambling outlets.
As with all forms of banking or money transfer, there are strict regulations around funding online betting accounts in Colorado. These are often down to neither the state nor the casinos themselves, but the banks, who haven’t managed to yet catch up with the online betting bills.
Unfortunately, many banks still class casinos as a form of money advancement. Individual banks have their own rules regarding whether you can use a Credit Card, Debit Card or an ACH Transfer in order to fund your online betting account.
Our advice is to instead use the likes of PayPal, Skrill or one of the Play+ Cards offered by the Colorado casinos to gamblersthemselves. These can all be funded by any form of payment. They will allow for near instant withdrawal either at ATMs or to use the funds online for purchases.
As sports betting is very new, there are often special introductory offers available for those looking to try out this new pastime without risking their own funds, or before linking a bank account to a sportsbook.
Colorado has allowed pool betting on horse races since 1949 and has had a state lottery since 1983. Slowly, casino gambling emerged in Colorado after the federal government passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988.
However, Colorado gambling kicked off for good in 1991. This was when the cities of Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek were allowed to open gambling operations. This is in an attempt to save the cities’ disastrous local economies at the time.
In these three cities, slots, blackjack and poker were permitted, but single bets could not exceed $5. These rules were in place to try and strike a balance between economic improvement in the local areas and responsible gambling by its people. Small casinos continued to open up under these restrictions in Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek.
Now, there are 33 casino locations across the three cities. In 2008, amendment 50 was implemented in Colorado. Gamblers are able to play a wider variety of casino games and bet up to $100 at a time and casinos could stay open 24/7 if they wished.
In addition to casinos, Colorado is home to 13 horse racing locations where visitors can make bets.
Now, sports betting has finally arrived in the Centennial State. The majority of Colorado’s 33 casinos have already applied for sports betting master licenses. The addition to the state’s gambling landscape seems to be a very welcome one.
Back in the day, Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek benefitted massively from the legalization of casino gambling. The Colorado economy is expected to reap the benefits of sports betting in a similar fashion.