Colorado Sees 7.5% Rise In Sports Betting Handle For Fiscal Year

It’s been another great year for sports betting in Colorado. The Centennial State saw a 7.5% increase in its sports betting handle for the past fiscal year which runs from July through to June. Recently released figures from the Colorado Department of Revenue showed an impressive $5.17 billion in sports bets being taken at the state’s legal sportsbooks.

This had a positive knock-on effect to the state’s coffees which saw a 105% increase in sports betting taxes raised. While the 2022 fiscal year saw $12.4 million taken in sports betting taxes, this number had jumped up to $25.5 million in the 2023 fiscal year.

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Positive figures outweigh a tough June for sports betting

While the overall picture for sports betting in Colorado is positive, the state’s sportsbooks had a difficult time in June. This is because the success of the Denver Nuggets basketball team in the NBA championship caused the sports betting operators to lose nearly $11 million in bets.

While there was $57.9 million taken in basketball bets in June, the success of the Nuggets caused $68.7 million to be paid out by the sportsbooks. While basketball caused Colorado’s sportsbooks a fair amount of pain, other high-performing sports such as baseball, tennis and soccer ensured that the revenue hit wasn’t too bad.

June saw the total sports betting revenue in Colorado reaching $9.2 million which was a fall of just over 70% compared to the previous month. This is the lowest figure for the state’s betting revenues in the whole of the last year, although it is still much better than the $6.7 million in revenues recorded in June 2022. The summer months are usually fairly slow for betting due to the relevant lack of major sporting tournaments.

Such figures had a negative impact on the state’s sports betting taxes too. This is because just $441,951 was collected in taxes in June which again made it the lowest total in the past year.

Room for more sports betting growth in Colorado

Such trends must be placed in the context of the whole year of sports betting within the state. Between August 2022 and April, Colorado had enjoyed a sports betting handle in excess of $400 million for each month.

Despite this, it’s also evident that things are in a state of flux for operators within the Centennial State. Several key operators such as PointsBet and Fox Bet are in the process of shutting down operations following the demise of Maverick Sports last month.

This shows how fiercely competitive sports betting has become in Colorado as smaller brands struggle to keep up with market leaders such as DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM.

However, the fact that relatively small operators such as ClutchBet and Superbook are able to continue will give hope to those newcomers aiming to set up shop in the Centennial State. With the likes of Fanatics expected to arrive in Colorado soon, it looks like things could be looking up for sports betting in the state.