Depending on what lens you are looking through, November was a good month in Colorado sports betting. Bettors certainly are happy while the sportsbooks may be sweating.
Colorado's Department of Revenue reported that operators in the Centennial State saw $608.4 million in bets this November, a statewide record.
As great as that sounds, a large quantity of bets doesn’t mean much to the operators (or the state) if revenue doesn’t increase as well and, in November, revenue plummeted. The statewide hold was 4.7%, well below October’s 8.4%.
All in all, Colorado’s sportsbooks grossed just $28.5 million and netted $13.9 million. From this revenue, the state charged its operators nearly $1.5 million in taxes. Compared to October, this was a 55% decrease and when looking at November 2022, it was a 42.3% drop.
Bettors improved their winning across the board
There doesn’t appear to be a single event that explains the massive decline in hold percentage. We usually see winning bettors when a state team wins the Super Bowl or NBA Championship, etc. But there was nothing in November.
Actually, the breakdown by sport shows that online bettors, who make up the vast majority of wagers in Colorado, narrowed their losing percentage in nearly every sport. Baseball was the only listed sport where bettors beat the house, and it was the least bet sport the state recorded.
Specifically college football and basketball, which were the third- and fourth-most bet sports, the operators held just 2.3% of those wagers.
Football interest wanes
Football was still the most popular sport to bet on in the Centennial State. But with the Denver Broncos' season being lackluster, basketball has been inching closer to the top.
Professional football saw a little less than 25% of the statewide bets, versus 33.4% in October. Basketball improved from 11.4% to 23.6%
