Colorado Sees $518 Million in Legal Sports Betting Wagers in December, Down 6.2% From November

2022 marked the second year sports betting took place in Colorado, with the state seeing five months of handle exceeding $500 million.

Ethan Matthew - News Editor at Covers.com
Ethan Matthew • News Editor
Feb 1, 2023 • 14:13 ET • 4 min read
Nikola Jokic Denver Nuggets NBA
Photo By - USA TODAY Sports

Legal sports betting in the Centennial State ended 2022 on a high note, despite a drop in handle compared to November.

Colorado's Department of Revenue announced the state's retail and online sports betting sites took in $518 million in wagers — a 6.2% decrease from November’s $552.6 million — with the state’s record being $573.7 record from January. December’s handle was a 12.3% jump from December 2021. 

Although Colorado saw less money wagered, its tax bill stayed the same at $2.58 million. Taxwise, December 2022’s bill was 235% more than December 2021 ($770,561).

2022 in review

This is the second full year of Colorado sports betting and things are looking up. In 2021, not a single month eclipsed $500 million in bets. On the other hand, 2022 had five months with a handle higher than $500 million, including each of the last three. 

Last year, Colorado’s total handle hit $5.17 billion, a 26% increase over the $3.83 billion in bets made in 2021.

Basketball remains king

Denver Nuggets' center Nikola Jokic is having an MVP-caliber season while the Broncos only won one game in December, and Coloradans noticed. 

December saw increased betting in both sports, and basketball hit 28.5% of the state’s handle while football saw 26.5%. November had 25.7% dedicated to pro basketball and 24.5% to pro football. 

College football, college basketball, and soccer rounded out November’s Top 5, and hockey sat at sixth with just 3.8% of the total handle.

December was also a good month for sportsbooks as their hold percentage spiked from 6.8% to 7.9%. Retail bettors were a bit luckier as operators only held 6.6% of their bets.  

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Ethan Matthew - Covers
News Editor

Born in Silver Spring, Maryland, Ethan has previously written industry articles for Forbes Betting. He's also written game previews for USA Today's SportsbookWire.

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