Sports Betting Handle in Colorado Falls by 15% in April
Colorado operators suffered their worst month of 2023. But the NBA remains the most popular sport as the Nuggets run through the playoffs.
April brought the Centennial State the NCAA Tournament championship, Denver Nuggets playoff games, Colorado Avalanche playoff games, and the opening series for the Colorado Rockies. And it wasn’t enough to for Colorado to beat March’s handle and revenue numbers for legal sports betting.
Colorado's Department of Revenue announced that the state's sportsbooks (both retail and online betting sites) accepted $417.8 million in the month of April, a 15.5% drop compared to the previous month. April also fell below February’s $425.1 million, making it the worst performing month for Colorado in 2023.
That being said, year-over-year data shows April 2023 enjoyed a 6.5% increase in handle compared to April 2022. And the Centennial State saw a massive 109.7% jump in tax revenue versus 2022.
Where March saw a boost in the Colorado sports betting retail market, April gave these brick and mortars a jump in revenue.
Despite receiving over $1 million less in bets, the retail market saw its gross revenue rise by 30%. This was all thanks to the sportsbooks hold percentage. After a 1.4% hold in February, the physical books have rebounded quite nicely, hitting 3.8% in March, and now 6.5% in April.
Overall, the state’s hold percentage fell from 9.2% to 8.4%, meaning that as a whole, Colorado’s betting market and the state government lost revenue in April. The month saw a 16.7% drop in tax receipts, now just $2.5 million.
March Madness appears to be a great betting tournament in the opening rounds, but less so come championship time.
In March, NCAA basketball was the second-most popular sport to bet on in Colorado (19% of all bets). In April, which featured both the Final Four and the National Championship, that percent fell to 1.3%, just behind table tennis’ 1.6%.
With baseball in full swing, America’s pastime made the biggest move to 21.2% of all bets. But the Denver Nuggets are the focus of Colorado these past few months, and it shows. Basketball was the No. 1 sport with 32.7% of the handle. Hockey came in third at 7.4%, followed by tennis (4.8%) and soccer (4.4%) to round out the Top 5.
