Fanatics is legal in Colorado, and the way it got there is one of the stranger sequences on this operator's map. Colorado regulators approved moving PointsBet's state license to Fanatics in September 2023. The app went live under the Fanatics name that December — the company's eighth live US state. Fanatics Betting and Gaming didn't actually finish closing the $225 million deal that bought PointsBet's entire US business until April 2024. The license changed hands in Colorado months before the company that held it did.
Legal: A License Transfer That Beat the Deal to the Finish Line
Colorado voters approved Proposition DD on November 5, 2019, by a narrow 50.7%-to-49.3% margin, legalizing sports betting with a 10% tax on operators' net proceeds, earmarked for the Colorado Water Plan. The market launched statewide on May 1, 2020. Every operator needs a master license tied to one of the state's limited-gaming casinos in Black Hawk, Central City, or Cripple Creek — PointsBet set that up through Double Eagle Hotel & Casino in Cripple Creek for its own 2020 launch. When Fanatics agreed to buy PointsBet's US business, it didn't need to find its own casino partner in Colorado; it needed the Limited Gaming Control Commission to approve sliding Fanatics in under Double Eagle's existing master license instead. That approval came in September 2023.
The gap that matters: Colorado's regulatory transfer closed in September 2023 and the app relaunched as Fanatics that December. The corporate acquisition — Fanatics Betting and Gaming's $225 million purchase of PointsBet's whole US operation — didn't formally close until April 2024. For a few months, Colorado's gaming commission had already treated the license as Fanatics' before Fanatics technically owned the company it came from.
Legit? The App Briefly Ran Under Both Names at Once
During the transition, Colorado bettors saw the product labeled "PointsBet, A Fanatics Experience" before the full rebrand landed — a visible marker of a regulatory handoff that, in most states, happens quietly behind the scenes. It's legit in the sense that matters to a bettor: the Limited Gaming Control Commission signed off on it, the casino partnership didn't lapse for a single day, and existing PointsBet account balances carried over without anyone needing to re-register. It's also a reminder that "Fanatics" in Colorado, as in several other states on this site, is a license PointsBet built, wearing a new name.
Safe: Same Regulator, Same Casino Partner, No Interruption
The Colorado Division of Gaming, housed inside the Department of Revenue, handles day-to-day licensing and audits; the Limited Gaming Control Commission makes the final calls, including the 2023 transfer. Geolocation enforces the state line on every bet, and the state's standard deposit-limit and self-exclusion tools are mandatory regardless of which name is on the app. None of that changes the odds on any given wager — it just means there's a regulator a Colorado bettor can actually file a complaint with.
No online casino, same as every operator here: Colorado's limited-gaming statute only authorizes sports wagering and physical casino floors in Black Hawk, Central City, and Cripple Creek. Fanatics Casino is a four-state product — Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia — and Colorado has no path onto that list under current law.
Proposition JJ: A Tax Change, Not a Bettor Change
In November 2024, Colorado voters passed Proposition JJ, scrapping the $29 million annual cap Prop DD had placed on sports-betting tax collections. Before JJ, revenue above that cap got refunded back to operators; after it, the state keeps all of it, still directed to the Colorado Water Plan. It's a state-budget story, not something that changes what a Fanatics account in Colorado can or can't do.
Who It Fits
Colorado bettors 21 and older get an operator with an unbroken regulatory history stretching back to PointsBet's 2020 launch, even though the name changed partway through. Former PointsBet users get a near-seamless transition; new users get a sportsbook with no online casino companion in this state. Betting here is entertainment, not income — the Colorado Division of Gaming's responsible-gaming resources, or 1-800-522-4700, are there if it stops feeling that way.