Online sportsbooks in Colorado dominate the state’s sports betting market. The Colorado Department of Revenue’s latest financial reports show $445.9 million was wagered across Colorado online sports betting sites in May, while retail sportsbooks only captured $1.58 million in monthly handle.
The NBA playoffs were a major driver of May’s wagering activity, hauling in $147.5 million of the monthly handle.
Overall, Colorado sportsbooks collected a $447.6 million handle, representing a 16.2% year-over-year increase from May 2023 but a month-over-month decrease from April’s $509.5 million handle.
Colorado sports betting operators generated $44.99 million in gross gaming revenue in May, and state coffers benefited from a $3.2 million tax windfall.
Parlay profits
Sports bettors in Colorado loved the parlay action in May, gambling $93.06 million on the wagering type.
Parlays are notorious profit centers for operators, and Colorado sportsbooks enjoyed a whopping 22.5% hold on these multi-leg bets. This helped spur a 43.3% month-over-month spike in gross gaming revenue for sportsbooks in Colorado despite the handle declining month over month.
Gross gaming revenue is up 40.5% year-over-year as well.
Favorite sports to bet on
The Denver Nuggets were trying to repeat as NBA champions this spring, but got ousted by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round. Basketball betting in Colorado hauled in $147.5 million worth of wagers and Colorado sportsbooks generated $7.95 million in revenue from that action.
This revenue figure was up 57.4% from last year’s basketball betting in May, and the handle was an 18.9% year-over-year increase.
The Colorado Avalanche also exited in the second round of the NHL playoffs, with $24.2 million in hockey betting action in May.
Baseball was the second-most bet on sport in the bunch for the second straight month with the MLB season ramping up in May.
| Sport | May Handle | Revenue |
|---|---|---|
| Basketball (pro) | $147.53 million | $7.95 million |
| Baseball | $92.33 million | $3.81 million |
| Tennis | $25.53 million | $2.23 million |
| Ice Hockey | $24.22 million | $3.4 million |
| Table Tennis | $13.92 million | $1.16 million |
| Golf | $6.97 million | $880,700 |
| MMA | $2.79 million | $290,000 |
| Boxing | $2.23 million | $879,500 |
Interestingly, Colorado sports bettors love … table tennis. Colorado sportsbooks almost hit $1.2 million in revenue from a $13.9 million table tennis handle. This brought the all-time table tennis handle over $400 million in the state. This is perhaps a testament to the popularity of online sports betting since only $195.20 of that table tennis handle was placed at a retail sportsbook.
Colorado tribes try for online sportsbooks
Currently, most of the tax income earned from Colorado sports betting – as much as 90% – is allocated to the state’s water programs.
The Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Tribes want to add online sports betting to their casino properties by way of remote sports betting kiosks, but some Colorado lawmakers fear the state could lose most of the funding for water.
Expanding the Colorado online sports betting market in this way could potentially allow commercial gaming companies to operate these remote kiosks on tribal land and thus skirt the current tax structure since tribes have tax-exempt status.
“When the legislature referred the sports betting initiative to voters in 2019, a key part was the state collecting tax on the revenues and dedicating 90% of that money to water projects,” said Rep. Dylan Roberts. “Now there is a concern that if the physical locations moved to tribal lands, we would lose most of the funding for water.”
Voters will also consider a proposition from House Bill 1436 in November to remove the current $29 million cap on revenue the state can collect from gambling in a fiscal year, which is ultimately an attempt to increase gambling revenues for water projects.
