Tipico, one of the largest online sports betting companies in the world, announced Wednesday that it would open a new technology hub in Denver, creating up to 441 jobs over the next eight years.
Tipico, established in Europe in 2004, has a 42-person office in Hoboken, New Jersey. The company launched its sports betting product, Tipico Sportsbook, in Colorado last month.
Colorado voters narrowly approved a ballot initiative legalizing sports betting in 2019. The law, which went into effect May 1st, 2020, allows the state government to collect 10 percent of the net gambling proceeds to fund a water conservation plan and other public purposes.
Sports betting generated about $8 million in tax revenue in the first year, according to the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade.
“Colorado voters paved the way for us to become one of the first states to legalize sports betting and use the revenue generated to protect our way of life and precious water resources that support our outdoor recreation economy and agricultural community,” Colorado Governor Jared Polis said in a news release. “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.
The new jobs associated with the new Tipico site in Denver are expected to have an average wage of $96,315, which is 128 percent of the annual average wage in Denver. Positions will include a variety of technology roles in areas like software development, cloud infrastructure, native and mobile app development, product management and data engineering, as well as operations, marketing, finance and customer service positions.
Colorado beat out North Carolina, Georgia and Texas as a finalist for Tipico’s technology hub.
“From the world-class universities and collaborative technology community, down to the well-documented high quality of life in the state, every metric during our nation-wide search pointed us right to Colorado,” said Adrian Vella, Tipico’s CEO of U.S. operations. “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.”
