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Colorado regulators took a hard stance against bet types that professional sports leagues have said should be removed from wagering catalogs throughout the United States.
The Colorado Division of Gaming released a significantly last week that included the rejection of 145 wager types, 96 of which were rejected on the basis of being deemed “negative”.
Examples of the types of now prohibited wagers include bets on whether a player would fumble in a football game or commit specific penalties such as pass interference.
“The Division of Gaming reviews its catalog of events regularly and removes anything that is a negative wager, duplicate, expired, or a concerning wager,” the division said in a statement. “During this review, 145 total wagers were removed from a very robust Colorado betting catalog of over 4,500 wagers.
“The division takes strides to ensure the integrity of gaming in Colorado and continues to do its due diligence all while working with stakeholders to uphold integrity in gaming while providing Coloradans as many betting markets as possible. While these wagers were removed, discussions continue with stakeholders to reassess any wagers and work to ensure that the gaming in Colorado remains safe.”
The rejections also included the "no" side of whether a player would score a touchdown in an NFL game, a bet where the "yes" side is particularly popular among bettors.
Some in the industry have criticized Colorado regulators' move to disallow negative bets, regardless of the intent to preserve sports integrity, suggesting that they may be harmful to consumers by protecting sportsbooks from having to post both sides of a wager.
“I can see what they think they were trying to achieve, [this was] just not the way to go about it, nor productive to the industry for the most part,” wrote Adam Bjorn, chief operating officer of sportsbook technology supplier Plannatech, on X.
In the wake of a series of scandals such as former NBA player Jontay Porter manipulating games to hit the under side of his player propositions, major leagues led by the NBA and Major League Baseball have publicly pushed for state regulators to be more restrictive when it comes to prop bets that can be manipulated by one player or official.
Despite this, Kyle Boyd, a spokesman for the Colorado Division of Gaming, told Vixio Gambling°ϲʹ that the rejected wager types were not in response to a league lobbying effort, nor a direct reaction to the Porter case or the case of former Major League Soccer and Colorado Rapids player Max Alves, who was suspended from the league last year after allegedly taking a payout to receive a yellow card in a game.
Major League Soccer has petitioned regulators to disallow wagering on yellow or red cards for soccer games, with several states including Illinois upholding the request.
The Colorado Division of Gaming earlier removed a host of permissible wagers that included players receiving cards or bookings in a soccer match in February of this year, citing “integrity concerns”, and the regulator also rejected several more bet types as part of last week’s sweep on the grounds of being “based on cards”.
“The division routinely audits and inspects all areas of gaming in Colorado,” said Boyd. “There was no recent issue that prompted this review, which was made as part of normal due diligence.
“The division did not seek out nor receive any input from professional leagues during this process, but is committed to working with all stakeholders to maintain sports-betting integrity,” he added. “The division also remains open to continued discussions with stakeholders to reassess any wagers.”
