The latest Colorado Department of Revenue report shows May could have been more kind to the sports betting industry. As with other legal jurisdictions in the US, the summer tends to produce low revenue totals considering the limited number of sports to bet on.
For May, Colorado sports betting operators brought in $31.4 million in gross gaming revenue (GGR), translating to roughly $2.2 million in state taxes.
Colorado sports betting May breakdown
According to recent figures, sports betting revenue was down 10.5% from April’s $35.1 million. However, May’s revenue was still 15.9% better than in May 2022.
Sportsbooks generated $385.2 million in sports betting handle in May, up 6.9% compared to May 2022. In addition, year-to-date adjusted gross revenue is 127.7% higher than the first five months of 2022.
Colorado online sports betting continues to dominate the industry as it did in April bringing in over $31 million in revenue. Meanwhile, the ten retail sportsbooks spread across Black Hawk, Cripple Creek and Central City generated $216,433 in revenue.
Colorado sports betting numbers according to the May revenue report:
- Online gross revenue: $31.2 million
- Retail gross revenue: $216,433
- Total GGR: $31.4 million
Surprisingly, Colorado (8.2%) was one of three states with an operator win rate below 10% for May. The other two states with similar win rates were South Dakota and Nevada.
What are customers betting on?
In terms of availability, the only professional sport in season is Major League Baseball (MLB). However, that did not stop Colorado sports bettors from placing futures bets on basketball.
Following the Denver Nuggets’ first-ever NBA title, year-over-year NBA handle was up 21.7% to $124.1 million. Baseball generated $92 million in handle with the second half of the MLB season set to start.
Percentage of wagers by sport:
- Basketball: 32.2%
- Baseball: 23.8%
- Parlays: 16.9%
- Tennis: 7.4%
- Other: 5.7%
- Soccer: 4.7%
- Hockey-Ice: 3.8%
- Table Tennis: 2.4%
- Golf: 1.9%
- MMA: 0.7%
- Boxing: 0.3%
One sport that will most certainly shit the tide, as it does across the US, is football. The 2023 NFL season kicks off in September but bets will certainly be placed well before that.
With NFL rookie training camps beginning as early as July 18, sportsbooks are gearing up for more football betting activity.
