Colorado's October Moves US Sports Betting Handle to $3 Billion
The state of Colorado has released its October sports betting handle and to nobody's surprise, it has set yet another record. Obviously a good sign for the Colorado market, the record handle was deemed more impressive considering October resembled more of a "normal month" in terms of its sports betting menu. No longer was there action in all four major North American sports running simultaneously.
The Colorado legal sports betting market has yet to reach maturity, and it already seems to be as complete as many of those that have been around since the Supreme Court struck down a blanket ban on sports betting in 2018. Since launch in May, and despite COVID-19 wreaking havoc on the industry as a whole, the Centennial State has managed to claw its way into elite company with regards to its betting platform, with no reason to think it won't maintain its status as a true legal sport betting Heavyweight.
How About Some Numbers?
The Colorado Department of Revenue’s Division of Gaming reported that the state's retail and mobile sports betting platforms combined for a record $210,719,821 handle in October, besting September’s total of $207,655,943 by 1.5%.
Gross Gaming Revenues (GGR) jumped an eye-opening 317.7% in October, coming in at a record $17,402,409. September's GGR figure was a slightly disappointing $4,166,334 and August's was $7.5 million.
Tax revenues off the GGR also set a high-water mark for Colorado. A much-needed $824,700 in sports betting taxes was collected for state and local coffers in October, easily eclipsing the previous record of $241,867 in July.
More Figures
Colorado's mobile sports betting platform, which has become the envy of other such platforms across the country was responsible for a record $206,441,154, or a whopping 98% of the $210,719,821 handle in October. That represents a 1.3% increase from September's $203,882,793 mobile take.
Unsurprisingly, it was both college football and the NFL that dominated the bets in Colorado during October, despite the Broncos' poor campaign. Pro football was responsible for $68 million of Colorado’s record October handle (up from $38.6 million in September), College Ball $16.5 million. Baseball playoffs brought in $23 million (down from $47.1 million in September) and basketball generated $12.7 million.
Colorado's legal sports betting scene continues to benefit from, of all "sports", table tennis which accounted for $9.3 million. “Other” sports accounted for $28,514,954 in handle in October and $37,171,815 was wagered on parlays.
About That $3 Billion Figure
Records handles are falling all around the US with state-after-state reporting new high-water marks. It is all adding up to the National handle reaching an almost unfathomable $3 billion for one month. As it stands now, the US legal betting scene, on the whole, has brought in $2.82 billion with Colorado's contribution.
Illinois is the last big fish yet to report its October numbers, but if September's $305 million handle gives us any insight as to what October will look like, the US should blow past that $3 billion figure with ease.
New Jersey contributed $803 million, Nevada generated $660 million, Pennsylvania's handle was north of $525 million and Indiana reported $230.9 million in bets taken in. Numerous smaller states reported record hauls for October and contributed to the impending $3 billion October figure.
Looking Ahead
The Colorado market showed in October that it doesn't necessarily need a stacked betting menu to reach new heights. After all, there won't be many months like September and October when the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL are running simultaneously.
“October’s data shows that Colorado’s market is able to thrive even as the sports schedule normalizes and is able to overcome a local team struggling, such as the Denver Broncos,” said PlayColorado analyst Jessica Welman.
Colorado welcomed PointsBet in November and Penn National’s Barstool-branded app is expected to be live in the state in the coming weeks. Both will act to boost the already-impressive monthly hauls for the Colorado sports betting industry.
Colorado slipped out of the “Top-5” bet-friendly states in October which is disappointing, but not shocking. Replacing them was Illinois, which boasts a much higher population and sports-base. As it stands, the Centennial State’s platform keeps growing and will continue to be a huge player in the US legal sports betting space.
