COLORADO’S LEGAL SPORTS BETTING INDUSTRY WELCOMES TWO HIGH-PROFILE OPERATORS

Dave Schwab Sports Betting Expert

3 minute read

Colorado is the biggest legal sports betting state in the western half of the US market. This state has also turned into a proving ground for several new legal sportsbook operators. Known as a betting-friendly market, there are any number of attractive reasons to launch here.

Two of the most anticipated launches in the industry just took place in this state. Just in time for football season, both MaximBet and Sports Illustrated Sportsbook have gone live in Colorado.

MaximBet is the result of a partnership between the company behind Maxim Magazine and sports betting operator Carousel Group. The magazine fits the bill as a men’s lifestyle publication. It appeals to the perfect demographic for legal sports betting.

Carousel Group had already established a sports betting presence in the US through the SportsBetting.com mobile sportsbook app. Technically, MaximBet could be viewed as a rebranding of that original product.

SportsBetting.com was launched in 2020 with Colorado being one of the original markets. The online book was also available in New Jersey, Iowa and Indiana. Those other three states are part of the initial rollout plans for MaximBet.

Carousel Group has also made plans to launch MaximBet in the brand new Arizona market sometime this year. This launch was made possible through a strategic partnership with the White Mountain Apache Tribe.

Arizona went live with legal sports betting on Sept. 9 to coincide with the start of the 2021 NFL regular season.

Sports Illustrated Sportsbook was the result of a partnership between Authentic Brands and the UK-based sports betting operator 888 Holdings. This is another example of the mesh between prominent media properties and established sports betting operators.

Authentic Brands is the parent company behind Sports Illustrated as a popular sports magazine. Once again, the demographics of this publication are a perfect match for Colorado and legal sports betting.

888 Holdings was also in the news recently for its buyout offer of William Hill’s non-US assets. This will establish the company as a global force in the regulated sports betting industry.

The SI Sportsbook will be able to draw from the magazine’s estimated 30 million unique monthly users. This ability to tap into an existing database should give the brand a fast start in its rollout plans.

While Colorado is the brand’s initial launch, there are some aggressive rollout plans behind the SI Sportsbook. The book plans to go live in as many as 15 states within the next two or three years. It is currently targeting four top-tier markets for its immediate expansion plans.

The stated goal is to achieve a 5% market share in these core markets. Three states mentioned in the immediate expansion plans were New Jersey, Iowa and Indiana.

Each of these new sports betting brands bring an exciting flare to the rapidly expanding legal marketplace. However, they will still face an uphill battle against the big three of FanDuel, DraftKings and BetMGM in the battle for market share.

Written by Dave Schwab, our US Sports Betting Industry expert. You can read about our author's expertise here.

Dave Schwab

Dave Schwab has been covering the sports betting industry for the past 12 years as the main focus of his specialty marketing company for online content. This endeavor followed a previous career in the field of sales and marketing in the wholesaling sector.Most of his weekly pieces focus on the rapidly expanding legal US sports betting industry. However, he still does extensive work covering betting angles that can provide a competitive edge to avid players. Dave believes that it is always a challenge to take past results and current form to try and correctly determine a future result. Sports brings out the unpredictability in what should be a fairly predictable outcome based on the stats, facts and recent trends in a particular matchup. More from Dave Schwab