Best Colorado Online Sportsbooks And Apps
Online sports betting is legal in Colorado, and it has been since May 2020, when the Centennial State opened the doors to the retail sportsbook and launched the first mobile betting apps. And you have read that right – Colorado decided, unlike most other states, to launch both retail and mobile sports betting at the same time, which proved to be the right call.
Just as Colorado legalized sports betting, COVID-19 lockdown happened, severely harming the sports betting industry across the state, but not so much for Colorado residents, who were able to engage in sports betting via their phones. That allowed Colorado to continue growing its market, which has reached new heights since the lockdown was removed and retail sportsbooks started accepting customers.
So if you're wondering whether it's legal to bet on sports in Colorado, the answer is an obvious YES. Not only that, but Colorado prides itself with one of the largest selection of sportsbooks and mobile betting apps, owned by some of the biggest brands in the industry.
Beyond that, there are over a dozen retail sportsbooks in the state, so you can rest assured that there are plenty of betting options in the state. And you definitely won't find any shortages of betting markets and bet types to choose from.
Best Online Colorado Sportsbooks
Colorado has more than 27 sports betting apps available, giving the bettors one of the widest variety than anywhere in the United States. Besides that, Colorado bettors can also bet in-person at any of the 17 retail sportsbook locations across the state.
Admittedly, some states offer more sportsbooks, but very few do, and even fewer house as many reputable brands as Colorado. With so many options to choose from, you might feel overwhelmed, but to help you, we have assembled a list of the top online Colorado sportsbooks for you to check out.
Top CO Sportsbooks
1. BetMGM
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2. Draftkings
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3. FanDuel
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BetMGM
BetMGM is one of the leading sportsbooks in the U.S. and is one of the few Colorado sportsbooks tied to a physical location. Like many top sportsbooks, BetMGM has an excellent offer of sports betting markets and an extensive array of bet types for you to choose from.
While BetMGM hasn't done anything to revolutionize sports betting, it doesn't really have to. Instead, BetMGM does what you would expect from a great sportsbook and does that with the utmost efficiency – including competitive odds, vast markets, excellent bonuses and promotions, and a great mobile betting app.
As a household name, it only makes sense for BetMGM to have a professional mobile app, and you shouldn't be surprised to learn that it does. BetMGM's app is fast, stable, easy to navigate, and has all the features you would need for an excellent mobile betting experience.
BetMGM Retail Partner: Midnight Rose Hotel & Casino
Caesars Sportsbook
Caesars Sportsbook is owned and operated by one of the oldest and most reputable brands in the world of betting, whose starts date all the way back to 1934. It first launched William Hill U.S. in 2012 but was rebranded to Caesars Sportsbook in 2021. So while it has a different name, the quality, and experience the company has is still there.
It's hard to look at Caesars Sportsbook as anything less than one of the top sports betting providers in the United States. It first started out of Nevada and has since expanded to 12 other states, including Colorado, where it grew a large following of bettors.
Caesars has gained a reputation for excellent betting service, a substantial selection of sports to bet on such as NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB, as well as some niche sports such as table tennis, darts, snooker, rugby, and more. The team at NFLPickwatch.com provide up to date stats on the NFL Scores for today to help all of our readers.
Beyond its vast markets and solid betting odds, Caesars also offers a wide selection of banking options, making it very easy to deposit and withdraw money from your account. You can use all the methods straight from the Caesars Sportsbook mobile app, which is pleasant on the eyes, easy to navigate, and fast.
Caesars Sportsbook Retail Partner: Isle Casino Hotel
BetRivers
Whether you're a casual bettor or a more serious, high-stakes bettor, you should have heard of BetRivers, which is the place to be for both groups of punters. BetRivers is all you would ever want in a sportsbook which offers all the features you will ever need and a great, functional, and aesthetically pleasing mobile betting app.
Perhaps its most significant advantage is the extensive rewards system, which ranges from basic rewards for small bettors to luxurious rewards for the most loyal customers. But realistically, BetRivers doesn't need its excellent reward system to gain attention from the betting community since it already excels in its market offering and competitive pricing.
But if you're looking for something exotic, BetRivers is definitely the right sportsbook. It offers BetRivers' jackpot parlay, requiring you to choose between three and eight random outcomes with huge jackpots as rewards.
BetRivers Retail Partner: J.P McGill's Hotel & Casino
FanDuel
Like DraftKings, FanDuel was once only known for its fantasy sports, but today FanDuel holds the tag as one of the top legal online sportsbooks in the United States. Since entering the sports betting market, FanDuel has expanded across a dozen states and operates in Colorado.
With FanDuel you will be able to bet on any sport imaginable, including basketball, football, tennis, soccer, hockey, horse racing, and much more. Beyond that, FanDuel has an excellent selection of bet types in moneyline, spread, futures, props, parlays, and round robins.
FanDuel has gained a reputation as one of the top sportsbooks, and you don't get here by offering mediocre betting service. But you don't need to trust our word for it – test FanDuel for yourself, and you will quickly see why it's one of the most popular sportsbooks in the United States.
FanDuel Retail Partner: Golden Gates Casino
MaximBet
MaximBet is one of the newer faces in the Centennial State, having entered the Colorado sports betting market in September 2021. Although a very fresh name in the betting world, and a sportsbook owned by a popular lifestyle magazine, MaximBet does a lot of things right and deserves to be on our list of the best Colorado sportsbooks.
Many will look past MaximBet since it isn't a big name brand such as FanDuel, DraftKings, or BetMGM; however, it is truly one of Colorado's hidden gems. MaximBet has surprisingly competitive odds and a very exciting welcome bonus ($1,000 in free bets).
Its market selection is not as large as some of the top names in the business, but it's good enough to satisfy anyone who wishes to bet on the top leagues and sports. Beyond that, MaximBet has done a terrific job with its mobile betting app to round up an excellent overall experience.
MaximBet Retail Partner: White Mountain
DraftKings
Having started as a provider of fantasy games, DraftKings morphed into one of the top online sportsbooks in the United States, spread across a handful of states. And to no one's surprise, DraftKings is open for business in Colorado as well.
One of DraftKings' main advantages over its competition is that it offers lines on virtually any sport and league, including soccer, football, basketball, hockey, MMA, boxing, golf, horse racing, and more. What's more, DraftKings also offers a vast selection of future bets and in-play betting.
Those who prefer betting via their mobile devices should definitely give DraftKings a chance. It offers one of the most advanced sports betting apps in the industry and is one of its main selling points, so you can be sure that mobile betting on DraftKings is excellent.
DraftKings Retail Partner: Mardi Gras Casino
Popular Sports In Colorado
It's hardly surprising that football is one of the most popular sports in Colorado, at least to those who have heard of the NFL and the three-time Super Bowl champions, Denver Broncos. But obviously, football is not the only sport Colorado is known for – far from it.
Colorado is also the home of the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, and the Colorado Rapids, so it's fair to say that the state has fans for four major sports in the United States – football, basketball, hockey, and soccer.
Although not as successful as its cousins, Colorado Rockies, who compete in the MLB, also hail from the Centennial State to round up Colorado's list of well-known sports teams.
Interestingly, no sport is considered the most popular amongst bettors in Colorado. The numbers the state has been reporting seem to heavily vary depending on big events, granted for most of the existence of sports betting in Colorado; basketball has been the most bet-on sport, followed by baseball, soccer, hockey, and football.
There are, obviously, other sports Colorado bettors like to bet on, including tennis, golf, MMA, and table tennis. Admittedly, not as popular as the top five, but the distribution of bets in Colorado is fairly balanced between over a dozen sports.
Betting Options In Colorado Sportsbooks
You won't lack options when betting in Colorado, as a state with one of the largest selections of online sportsbooks and mobile apps. There are almost 30 mobile betting apps available, with more to come in 2022, most of which are owned or operated by reputable sportsbooks.
Beyond that, Colorado has a vast selection of retail sportsbooks, so whether you like to bet via your phone or in-person at one of the retail sportsbooks, Colorado has got you covered.
As you would expect from well-known sportsbooks that are available in Colorado, they all offer a great selection of betting markets and bet types, with no shortage of markets even on some smaller leagues. Whether you wish to bet on an MLB match or a Peruvian second-division soccer game, you can be sure that at least a few of many sportsbooks will have lines ready.
Legislation For Online Sports Betting on Colorado
Capturing the beginning of gambling in Colorado seems like an impossible task since gambling has been prevalent in the state's frontier towns through the 19th and early 20th centuries. However, when we talk about online sports betting, the date that made it all happen was May 2020, which oddly enough was at the time when the state closed down all of its casinos due to COVID-19.
Colorado is one of the few states that made a big step in the right direction by allowing online sports betting as well as remote registration from the get-go. That not only allowed the market to grow from the start, but it also helped bettors to create their sports betting accounts and bet on games no matter in which part of the state they live in.
The decision to allow for remote registration was likely made because many potential bettors would not want to take the drive to one of Colorado's three gaming cities to register a sportsbook account. And so far, this decision is proving to be the right one.
It's also important to mention that Colorado launched retail and mobile betting simultaneously. With that, it has avoided setbacks that Michigan experienced, having launched sports betting in the same week as COVID-19 shutdowns.
Overall, Colorado's road to legal sports betting was relatively smooth, while its growth over the years has been fairly impressive.
Colorado Sports Betting Timeline:
May 2018 – Following the U.S. Supreme Court's repeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), each state is free to set its own laws and regulations for sports betting.
May 2020 – Colorado lawmakers passed the legislation, stipulating that sports betting in Colorado can officially begin.
October 2020 – Colorado reports over $207 million total handle, with over $13 million wagered on football and a 61% increase in total handle compared to August numbers.
November 2020 – PointsBet officially launches in Colorado.
January 2021 – Colorado reveals sports betting in 2020 featured over $1 billion in revenue.
February 2021 – Colorado reports a new record of $326.9 million in wagers from January.
May 2021 – Bally's launches beta version of its mobile betting app (Bally Bet).
May 2021 – Colorado reveals that in its first year, the state recorded $2.345 billion in wagers and $147.4 million of gross revenue.
August 2021 – Barstool Sportsbook goes live in Colorado.
What to Consider When Shopping For The Best Colorado Online Sportsbooks and Apps
Finding a solid sportsbook with a great app is the first step towards a successful sports betting endeavor. However, to do that, it's essential to know what to look for and how to avoid sportsbooks that might seem great with unique offers but lack in other, more critical areas.
When looking for the right sportsbook, you should keep an eye on the quality of the odds, mainly odds offered on the sports you wish to bet on. The odds will differ from sportsbook to sportsbook, and while some may have better odds on basketball and worse odds on football, the opposite might hold true for another sportsbook.
So if you wish to bet on a specific sport, it's wise to pick a sportsbook that has the best offer on that sport. The second thing to consider is the market offer.
Even though you might prefer betting on one sport, it's crucial to have access to as many markets as possible, either for you to bet on or for price shopping. So if you have found a sportsbook with competitive odds and a vast selection of markets, you're on the right path.
Beyond that, the site's layout and promotions, and bonuses are something to consider but not as important as the features mentioned above. However, if you're a mobile bettor, there are a few other things you should keep an eye on, all related to the quality of the mobile betting app.
A great sports betting app needs three things – it needs to be stable, fast, and easy to navigate. Some sportsbooks do an excellent job in achieving most of those three factors, yet only a few have managed to excel in all three.
The best way for you to figure out which Colorado sports betting app has all three, is to test them out. All mobile betting apps are free to download, making it very easy to try them out and decide which one is right for you.
Conclusion
As a bettor, you would be hard-pressed to find another U.S. state as attractive as Colorado. The state features a plethora of excellent online and retail sportsbooks, as well as more mobile betting apps than you would ever want.
There are over 27 sports betting apps available in Colorado currently, as well as 17 retail sportsbooks where you can bet in-person, meaning you will be spoiled for choice when choosing the place or app to bet on. Admittedly, the selection is not as large as in a few states, but Colorado still has one of the most extensive selections of sportsbooks out there.
A big advantage Colorado bettors have over other punters from other states is that in Colorado – unlike in New Jersey – you can bet on in-state college teams and in-state college sporting events. Besides that, in Colorado, you can bet on sports from anywhere and don't need to be physically located inside a sportsbook or casino, as long as you are within the borders of the state.
All in all, there is not a lot not to like about sports betting in Colorado. There are plenty of sportsbooks to choose from, more than enough mobile betting apps for anyone's needs, and there are almost no restrictions that would limit you in your sports betting endeavor. There are a few states who entered the sports betting market the right way, and Colorado is definitely one of them.