Colorado launched sports betting in the midst of the gaming industry’s nationwide casino closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, which also shut down college athletics and professional sports.
Gaming operators in the state are now seemingly making up for lost time.
The Colorado Division of Gaming said Wednesday the state’s retail and online sportsbooks took in almost $59.2 million in wagers during July, a jump of almost 55% compared with June.
Total revenue collected by operators was almost $5.2 million, a win percentage of 8.78%.
With the restart in July of the NBA, NHL, and Major League Baseball, Colorado gaming regulators said that total sports betting wagers have doubled since the activity was launched on May 1.
Dustin Gouker, lead analyst for PlayColorado, which is part of the PlayUSA.com network, said Colorado has established itself as the fifth-largest sports betting market in the U.S. in just three months.
“It only took a few days of basketball and baseball games in July to show the demand that is out there in Colorado for sports betting,” Gouker said. “With a robust August schedule that includes playoff runs by the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche, the short-term outlook for the state is excellent.”
Mobile sports wagering is the dominating factor in Colorado, accounting for 99% of the state’s sports wagers in July. Colorado has eight retail operators and 10 internet operators.
Online sports betting operators in the state include BetMGM Circa Sports, DraftKings and FanDuel.
Among the retail sportsbooks are Penn National Gaming’s Ameristar Casino Black Hawk, William Hill US at Caesars Entertainment’s Isle Black Hawk, and Monarch Resorts’ Monarch Casino and Twin River Worldwide Holding’s Golden Mardi Gras, both also in Black Hawk.
Colorado regulators said baseball had more than $9.2 million in total wagers starting with the season’s opening day on July 23. Analysts cited fan interest in the National League’s Colorado Rockies. Soccer had $7.6 million in wagers.
Colorado’s sports betting market is expected to grow with the upcoming NFL season. The Denver Broncos signed deals this summer with both FanDuel and BetMGM to be the team’s “official sports betting partners.”
However, Gouker cautioned that college football may not be played in Colorado this fall, and the NFL is still working out its plans.
“As robust as August looks right now, though, the future remains tenuous,” he said. “So while the news is good, sports betting is still at the mercy of the pandemic.”
Colorado collected $241,866.91 in taxes from sports wagers in July.
Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming Reports. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgaming.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.
