Underdog Sports Wagering Up For Colorado Licensing

by James Murphy in Gaming Industry on Aug 14, 2023 5:13pm

Underdog Sports Wagering licensing application is on the agenda for the January 19 meeting of the Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commssion.
Underdog Sports Wagering is a new sports betting subsidiary of Underdog Fantasy.
Colorado now has 23 mobile sports betting providers licensing through the state’s gaming regulatory board.

If everything goes as expected at the January 19, 2023 meeting of the Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission there will soon be 24 mobile sports betting platforms in the state. That’s because newcomer Underdog Sports Wagering has their licensing application on the agenda that day. Underdog Sports Wagering is the sports betting subsidiary of daily fantasy sports provider Underdog Fantasy. Underdog Fantasy has been very successful since their launch and boasts an impressive roster of investors including Mark Cuban, Adam Schefter, Kevin Durant and Matthew Dellavedova.

*Underdog Sports Wagering’s license request is on the January agenda of the Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission*

In most cases, licences for Sports Betting Internet Operator in Colorado are approved with very little dissent. Based on what I know about Underdog there’s no reason to expect that they won’t be approved. Colorado remains arguably the best sports betting jurisdiction in the country, but even they have suffered from the ‘contagion’ caused by the bumbling regulatory efforts of other states.

The last licensing application for online or retail sports betting was back in August (BallyBet). During the past year, only two new sportsbooks launched in Colorado (Bet365 and BallyBet) while Twin Spires, MaximBet and Fubo Sportsbook all threw in the towel on the mostly untenable US market. The stagnation in the once vibrant Colorado sports betting mileage is a clear indication that even the states that ‘get it’ risk collateral damage from the far too many states that don’t. Colorado may very well be the best sports betting state in the US, but they’ve definitely lost the crown of ‘best in North America’ to the Canadian province of Ontario.

*Common sense has historically been one of the prerequisites for success as a bookmaker. Unfortunately, it’s in short supply in today’s US market.*

I’m optimistic that Underdog will find success in Colorado and with their sports betting endeavor in general. They have the perfect ‘crossover marketing’ opportunity with their fantasy sports client base. They don’t strike me as the type of company that’s going to waste money hiring celebrity ‘brand ambassadors’ and other such nonsense. In the list of corporate values on their website they include ‘common sense’ and that will serve them well as the enter the sports betting business.

Here’s the full agenda of the January 19, 2023 Colorado meeting:

James Murphy

James Murphy is a preeminent authority on the international gambling industry and has made frequent appearances in the mainstream media including the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Forbes, Entertainment Weekly, CNBC and NPR. He has previously worked as a radio and podcasting host where he broadcast to an international audience that depended on his expertise and advice. Murphy also serves as an odds making consultant for sports and ‘non-sport novelty bets’ covering the entertainment industry, politics, technology, financial markets and just about everything else.

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