For legal sports betting markets, quantity appears to be more valuable than quality. Despite the Denver Nuggets playing for — and winning — the NBA Championship, Colorado’s sports betting market contracted in June. By comparison, Nevada saw a lower handle despite its NHL trophy and Kansas saw less action as the Chiefs won the Super Bowl.
Colorado's Department of Revenue announced the state's retail and online sportsbooks accepted $310.6 million in wagers in June, a 19% monthly decline.
Compared to this time last year, Colorado’s June 2023 handle was lower than last year’s $313.2 million, but tax revenue was higher by 64%, year over year.
Fallout from the NBA Finals
Colorado sportsbooks took it on the chin in June. You might think that having a local team in the finals would attract a larger handle than the previous month, but not only did the handle fall in June, but so did single NBA bets. May saw $124 million in basketball action while June only had $57.9 million.
But bettors spent their money wisely by jumping on the Nuggets bandwagon. From their $57.9 million in NBA wagers, the sportsbooks paid out $68.7 million in winnings. The only other sport to see a profit for bettors was ice hockey, where they turned $4.5 million into $5.3 million in winnings.
The statewide hold percentage unsurprisingly fell from 8.1% to 2.9%, which meant that Colorado’s tax revenue was 80% lighter than in May.
Retail Woes
Brick-and-mortar operators struggled in June, and it wasn’t all due to the Nuggets. Yes, they lost money in NBA bets, but they also lost money on tennis, soccer, ice hockey, and football wagers.
Baseball was the most popular sport to bet on in June (for both online and physical books) and the retail market held just 2% of those bets, a bad recipe for operator success. In the end, the retail books' win percentage was -27%, losing a total of $674,000.
