What the Colorado Rockies-DraftKings Sportsbook partnership means

Prior to their extra innings victory over the San Francisco Giants on Thursday, news broke in the morning that the Colorado Rockies and DraftKings Sportsbook reached an agreement to make DraftKings the franchise’s first Official Sports Betting Operator.

DraftKings was already the Colorado Rockies‘ Official Daily Fantasy Operator, so the partnership evolving further into the sports betting world made perfect sense.

"“In the short span since launching our top-rated mobile sportsbook app in Colorado this past May, Coloradans have proven to be among our most engaged customers, which makes our deepened connection to the state through these collaborations all the more exciting,” said Matt Kalish, co-founder and president of DraftKings North America through their press release.“We’re committed to Colorado,” DraftKings Head of Sportsbook Johnny Avello told Rox Pile over the phone. “They’ve been loyal to us and we want to continue to be part of the community.”“All of us at the Colorado Rockies are thrilled to take this exciting next step in our longstanding relationship with DraftKings,” said Rockies’ Vice President of Corporate Partnerships Walker Monfort."

While you’re likely familiar with the app, you’ll be able to visit a physical DraftKings Sportsbook up in Blackhawk as well. The first physical DraftKings SportsBook is opening up in the Mardi Gras Casino today (Friday, September 25). It’s equipped with more than 40 televisions, large video boards for odds, and will have several self-service betting kiosks, not to mention a full-service sports bar and restaurant.

You’re likely wondering when you’ll see one while roaming the concourses at Coors Field during a game. That’s not currently in the plans, but never say never.

“We signed a deal to put a sportsbook in Wrigley Field just as you’re entering, so who knows?” Avello noted of a possible Coors Field sportsbook.

In the meantime, Avello is happy with the app being able to reach every Coloradan within the state borders, especially after how crazy 2020 has been with COVID-19 shutting down and delaying the start of nearly every American professional sports league.

“COVID was messy this year. We didn’t know what to do initially when all the sports got cancelled,” Avello recounted. “But we found content doing things like e-sports, simulated NASCAR racing, table tennis, darts … our users enjoyed playing it.” And because they did those sports are likely to stay in their catalog in the future.

More from Rox Pile

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
• Colorado Rockies: What if Todd Helton had played football instead?
• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: Has Sean Bouchard earned a second look in 2023?

Writer’s Note: I was definitely someone who placed more money than expected on Russian Table Tennis bets in May.

As for the partnership with the Rockies and what it means for us users in Colorado, would that mean that we’d have access to other lines that are custom fit for us Rockies fans this offseason? Early in the season when Charlie Blackmon was crushing it, they were offering +400 odds for him to hit .400 or above. Maybe we’d get a chance at betting on a potential major offseason storyline, say if the Rockies were to trade Nolan Arenado or not?

“Well, we try to stay away from the negativity,” Avello said. “Will a guy get traded or not? I can honestly tell you that those are some of the props that we don’t normally do.”

So we won’t be seeing any “Will Nolan get traded?” odds no matter what we do. But per Avello, something like a Mile High Parlay can always be a possibility, whether that be something like the Rockies, Nuggets, and Avs all winning on the same day or all three (and the Broncos too) make it to their respective championships. It’s all a possibility.

“We’re just really happy to be up in that area,” Avello said of the Centennial State. “The market’s growing. I think the users are really happy with our application and all the offerings that we have so we’ll continue to service the state of Colorado.”

Play on, Rockies fans.