Gambling Insider was to find out at the event itself this was just the beginning for the company’s operations across the pond.
COO David O’Reilly explains: “There are two broad purposes to that US licensing. The first is to be able to offer our British and Irish horseracing pools to US tote companies, as we’ve had quite a bit of interest from Cumberland US operators that want pools with modernised features, with cash outs, with syndicates etc.
“We’ve done it as we also have a lot of demand among existing US horseracing totes and cash out on their own pools. Cash out has been a huge success in the UK and Europe and it is inevitably going to be a big success in the US; when sports betting takes more of a foothold in the US, existing horseracing pools need to modernise.
“A leg-by-leg cash out on a multi-leg North American racing pool is something they want and we’ve got the risk management, technology and a significant portfolio to provide them with.
“I’d be disappointed if we weren’t live this year. Our discussions are very well advanced. They know they need to modernise to compete with sports betting and appeal to a younger audience.”
Without revealing too much information and keeping his cards close to his chest, it was clear 2019 will be an important year for the COO and Colossus Bets, which is looking for much more than just expanding horseracing between its UK and US audience.
O’Reilly said: “We have three or four things in the pipeline coming to fruition at the moment. We want US punters betting into our UK and Irish horseracing pools; we want US locals to be able to cash out on their own local pools through our technology and we want to grow our own B2B partner network.
“Aside from horseracing pools, we are bringing an esports product to market fairly soon, including esports pools with a US partner. We’re also building a hybrid fantasy sports product focused on US sports – like a DraftKings meets Colossus Bets type of proposition.
“It will be a multi-leg pool format based on fantasy scoring. Basically, who will be the most-valued player within a certain game? Pick your player and progress through the pool leg-by-leg.”
Not only is Colossus Bets looking to expand and develop its horseracing pools, it is also looking to build partnerships with lottery operators.
The COO adds: “We’re making some interesting headway with lottery operators. Our product is almost a hybrid between sports betting and lottery. It’s almost a crossover product. We’re getting a lot of interest from lottery operators who want to diversify their product range. I’d like to see us live with several lottery operators by the end of year.”
The totalisator license issued by the Oregon Racing Commission appears to be the first of many things on Colossus Bets’ 2019 agenda. With plenty of plans in place, O’Reilly is confident the operator will be making further announcements over the coming months.
