Sports betting company to open tech hub in Colorado
(The Center Square) – The online sports betting company Tipico plans to open a hub in Colorado that will create more than 400 jobs, the company and state officials said Wednesday.
The company, which is headquartered in Europe and already has sportsbooks in Colorado and New Jersey, claims the technology hub will create 441 jobs in eight years.
Colorado voters approved Proposition DD in November 2019, which legalized sports betting starting on May 1, 2020.
Since then, the state has added 25 online sportsbooks, with more than $2.3 billion wagered in the first year of legalized betting in the state.
“This move proves what we already know: Colorado is the best place to live and work and 441 new jobs will be created in Colorado thanks to this voter-driven decision,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement.
Tipico U.S. Chief Executive Officer Adrian Vella said in a statement that “every metric during our nation-wide search pointed us right to Colorado.”
“Now that football season is here and our sportsbook is live in the state, we’re confident that the deep pool of technology talent in Colorado will help us take the Tipico brand to the next level in the U.S.,” he added.
Ian St. Clair, an analyst for PlayColorado, which covers the industry, called Tipico’s move “an immediate boon for the Colorado economy and jobs market.
“This is the latest sign that Colorado is one of the most sought-after and competitive sports betting markets in the country, and it will remain so for the foreseeable future,” he said in a statement to The Center Square. “It doesn’t hurt that this is also a desirable place to live, which was certainly an important draw for Tipico.”
A statement from the governor’s office said the jobs “are expected to have an average wage of $96,315, which is 128 percent of the annual average wage in Denver,” with positions such as software and app development.
In July, more than $181 million was wagered in the state, down from almost $230 million in June. The state collected nearly $1 million in tax revenue from wagers in July.
