Colorado Sports Betting
All About Colorado Sports Betting Handle And Revenue

All About Colorado Sports Betting Handle And Revenue

October 1, 2024 02:18pm

The experts at BetColorado.com have developed this guide to help you better understand the terms used when discussing Colorado sports betting revenue and handle. The state releases those figures on a monthly basis.

Colorado voters approved a constitutional amendment legalizing sports betting in November 2019. It allows for both in-person wagering at a brick-and-mortar sportsbook in a casino, or for wagering through a mobile app or an online site.

Though it’s not one of the more populous states that has legalized sports betting, Colorado offers one of the widest selections of online sports betting apps and websites in the country. Currently, 24 Colorado sports betting apps are licensed in the state.

Colorado Sports Betting, August vs. July

	Total handle	Mobile handle	Revenue
August	$372.379M	$370.277M	$24.481M
July	$320.397M	$319.029M	$24.987M
Change	Up 16.2%	Up 16.1%	Down 2.0%

Colorado Sports Betting Handle and Revenue: August 2024

The summer swoon is over for Colorado sports betting. On Oct. 1, the Colorado Department of Revenue’s Division of Gaming reported the state’s sportsbooks accepted $372,378,664 in wagers for August. That’s a 16.2% increase from July’s handle of $320,396,841.

While betting was up, revenues were down slightly, as the sportsbooks claimed $24,481,257 in net sports betting proceeds, a 2% drop from the $24,986,947 the licensed operators won in July. However, despite the lower revenue figures, the state’s tax receipts increased. The $2,375,443 collected in August was 0.2% better than July’s $2,369,730.

Online wagering accounted for almost all of the betting traffic, with $370,277,244 wagered, 99.4% of the overall handle, through one of the Centennial State’s licensed mobile sports betting apps. Those operators won $23,786,981, representing 97.2% of the overall revenues.

Baseball was the top sport for Colorado bettors, with sportsbooks taking $103,204,598 in wagers during August. Tennis was the second-most popular sport, attracting $39,251,064 in bets, followed by basketball’s handle of $33,579,516, pro football’s $29,612,437 (on only preseason games) and soccer’s $23,343,374. Gamblers also put $76,143,097 on parlays, which are counted separately.

The state does not release handle or revenue totals by sportsbook.

The August figures were also up from the August 2023 totals. The handle was 21.7% better than the $306,065,791 wagered 12 months earlier, and revenues shot up 31% from $18,683,392.

Colorado Mobile Sports Betting History

Colorado Sports Betting Handle and Revenue FAQs

Colorado bettors wagered $5.56 billion $5.18 billion on sporting events in 2023, with $5.515 billion wagered online. The total handle increased nearly 7.3% from 2022, when the state’s sports betting operators took $5.18 billion in wagers in large part to Colorado sportsbook promotions.

Colorado taxes sports betting operators at 10% of their net revenues. The state does allow licensees to deduct promotional credits, but starting this year, operators cannot deduct more than 2.5% of their handle. After June 30, 2024, the percentage allowed will drop by a quarter of a percent for the following three years, down to 1.75% in July 2026.

Colorado releases its sports betting revenue and handle totals monthly. However, there is no set date for the state to publish that data. It usually comes out about 4-5 weeks after the end of each month.

According to the Colorado General Assembly, the state allocates sports betting tax revenue in the following manner. First, the revenue covers administrative expenses for the state Division of Gaming, then 6% is withheld and earmarked in a fund to compensate the state’s land-based casinos for any income lost because of sports betting. The state also sets aside funding for problem gambling services, with the rest of the tax money going to fund the state’s water plan. In the 2021-22 fiscal year, the state allocated $12.4 million in sports betting taxes to the Colorado Water Plan.

The Colorado Division of Gaming, an agency within the state Department of Revenue, oversees sports betting operations in the state.

Mobile sports betting is defined as the amount of money wagered through apps on mobile devices or online websites. Many such operators offer Colorado promo codes to customers. In Colorado, online wagering is the preferred method for sports bettors. In 2022 more than 99% of all the money wagered – more than $5.13 billion – was bet online.

The handle is the amount of money bettors wagered for a specific period. This exceeds hundreds of millions each month in Colorado. The net revenue is what sportsbooks including ESPN BET Colorado retain after paying out winning wagers and taking deductions. In 2022, Colorado took in more than $188 million in sports betting revenue.

References

Colorado Department of Revenue

Author

Editorial Staff

@Bet_Colorado

The experts at BetColorado who bring you the latest updates in Colorado sports betting. We pull together decades of experience to give you analysis as well as comparisons of the best CO online gambling apps.

Cited by leading media organizations, such as: