Colorado may have had the most awkward sports betting launch in the United States.

Proposition DD, which legalized sports wagering in the Centennial State, narrowly passed in late 2019, but by the time regulators were ready for launch the following spring, what were they going to offer? By early March, most major sports leagues had either shut down or radically altered their schedules in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But BetMGM, DraftKings, FanDuel and BetRivers still wanted to launch on May 1, even though the brick-and-mortar casinos in the state had shut down, so the Colorado Gaming Division complied.

“There was no retail element, then there really weren’t any sports either,” said Dan Hartman, the state gaming division’s longtime director.