Colorado caps first year of sports betting with $6.6m in tax revenue

Colorado collected $1.08m in taxes from sports betting in April, bringing its total tax revenue to $6.6m in its first full year of operation. The state launched online and retail sports betting on May 1, 2020.

Bettors in Colorado staked $2.34bn in year one, resulting in $147.3m in operator revenue. That equates to a 6.3% hold, which is nearly a full percentage point lower than the national average of 7.2%.

In April, total handle was $244.4m, an 18.8% decrease from March, when bettors wagered just over $300m. That doubled as the state’s second-best overall month since launching last year, trailing only January 2021. The March numbers were directly attributable to the mass appeal of the NCAA basketball tournament, which was canceled in 2020.

With the NBA season coming down the stretch, basketball remained Colorado’s top sport in April, accounting for $84.2m in handle, followed by baseball ($48.2m), and hockey ($10.6m). Table tennis, meanwhile, continues to hold a unique appeal to Coloradans, evidenced by $8.9m in total bets for the month.

Colorado has rapidly grown into one of the most competitive and thriving sports betting markets in the US since going live at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Thanks to the presence of more than 20 operators and a focus on mobile betting – 99% of wagers have been made online – Colorado is one of just six states to have eclipsed the $2bn handle threshold.