Colorado Continues to Raise its Betting Handle in October
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Some big news for sports betting in Colorado was the addition of a new sportsbook in PointsBet for the month of November; however, we are just getting the October numbers from the Centennial State.
Colorado’s October Betting Numbers
The handle went up from $207 million to $210 million, a small increase, but we saw a massive increase in football bets. NCAA Football went up from $3.8 million wagered to $16.5 million, and NFL bets went up from $36.6 million in September to $67.9 million in October. While these sports saw massive increases, a drop in baseball bets is what balanced out the books leading to only a minor increase in total handle.
However, with football really taking off, I would not be surprised to see a massive increase in handle in November when the NFL really got going alongside NCAA Football where the PAC-12 began games and the Moutain West Conference had tons of play.
In terms of revenue, sportsbooks made a total of $17.4 million in October, a massive increase from the $4.16 million it had in the month of September. This has allowed for the first real chunk of money to flow into the state as Colorado collected $824k in taxes.
However, there may be some cause for concern as Tennessee, a state with a comparable amount of bettors, opened in November and within a week of betting collected almost as much money as Colorado had in all of October, in its 6th month of operation. Colorado obviously has more friendly laws when it comes to regulations for sportsbooks, but this kind of difference is rather eye-opening.
Mobile betting remains king as $206 million of the $210 million wagered in October was placed online. While the pandemic does factor into this, it shines a light on how much more states can make with online betting. Being able to bet from home when watching a game is making a massive difference. There is no way that Colorado, even in perfect conditions, could hit this handle with only in-person betting in the state.
Colorado Future Outlook
With PointsBet joining the market in November and coming in with a bang as official partners of both the Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets, I expect that the November numbers for Colorado are going to be fantastic. PointsBet actually set up its HQ in Denver, so one could imagine that it will be using heavy marketing in the area, which could lead to a larger handle.
There is also talk of Penn National joining the bookmaking market in the state with its Barstool-branded online sportsbook. This just adds another bookmaker to attract more patrons to Colorado sports betting.
Colorado sports betting is looking good, the betting handle is solid and increasing, and we are still at the stage where residents are learning about sports betting and even discovering that it is legal in their state. However, the only worry is the low amount of tax revenue that Colorado is bringing in compared to other states. It will be interesting to see if regulators or the legislatures take a look at the rules that they have developed and attempt to change them in the future.
