March is the month of basketball, and despite not fielding a team in the men’s tournament legal sports betting in the Centennial State rebounded from February’s dip.
Colorado's Department of Revenue reported that the state's retail and online sports betting sites handled $494.4 million in bets last month, a 16% jump from the $425.1 million in February. However, March 2022 saw over $500 million in wagers.
March Madness was a boom for the retail markets. Brick-and-mortar books saw a 28% increase in wagers while the online operators matched the statewide growth of 16%. The hold percentage more than doubled for retail sportsbooks, hitting 3.8% compared to 1.4% last month. Online hold also saw a healthy spike — keeping 9.3% this month after just 5.3% in February.
A higher hold percentage matched with more bets created an impressive revenue post for sports betting in Colorado. After paying out winning tickets, sportsbooks saw $45.9 million in gross revenue, double last month’s $22.6 million. Taxwise, the state’s cut in March nearly tripled to $3.1 million.
NBA is still king
With just a day of MLB action in March, the month was dominated by basketball. A reported 58.1% of all single bets in Colorado were made on basketball, with hockey being the next sport at just 5.1%.
While the NBA came up with a majority of the basketball action, physical bettors preferred the NCAA tournament, with 43% of the retail bets on NCAA basketball, while 26% were made on professional basketball.
That being said, the online market is dominant in the Centennial State. 99% of all bets were made on a computer or on an app. In nearly every sport, the operators ended the month with a profit.
