Colorado Continues to Enjoy Record Success with Legal Sports Betting

The gradual and steady shift towards the legalization of sports betting across the US continues to top headlines. This time, Colorado was able to stand as proof that incentivizing the lucrative business drive behind sports betting can lead to large-scale gains.  

The Colorado Division of Gaming announced that although October of 2021 reported a staggering record-breaking figure, topping at over the $490 million mark, November came short by a 3.3 percent narrow margin to record a total of $475.4 million in sports betting handle. 

However, for Division of Gaming representatives, what is worth highlighting more than just pointing at the obvious growing interest from Colorado’s local markets to favor sports betting, is the 105 percent growth from the same period in 2020. 

Record-Breaking Sports Wagering Revenues

Division of Gaming representatives commented that high sports betting activity should have led, in turn, to some great months in terms of revenues for sportsbooks across the state. They were right. For November, sportsbooks announced a record-breaking $19.3 million in revenues from sports wagers.  

These figures come as a surprise given the level of payouts the sportsbook also recorded. In this case, gaming industry providers reported a total of $438.7 million just in payouts to winners. In addition, they also reported a total of $17.4 million in the form of incentives to either attract or drive new bettors and players. The math points to positive gains and exponential growth in wagering action at the end of the day. 

According to official stats, Colorado bettors have wagered a total of over $4.5 billion since May of 2020, when the state opened its legal business grid to sports betting and business that promoted such related activities as part of their core offer. 

Million-Dollar Wagers’ Breakdown by Sports 

The Colorado Division of Gaming provided a breakdown of all betting action recorded throughout November of 2021 and what sports topped bettors’ selections. As expected, both the NFL and the NBA gravitated players to pull an aggregate of $265 million in total wagers. 

College sports followed the NFL and the NBA. NCAA Football took on the third spot as one of the most favored leagues by bettors who placed a total of $29.4 million in wagers. NCAA Basketball was left fourth, with $29 million. 

Finally, the National Hockey League filled the fifth spot in the count with $14 million in placed wagers for November. To experts, this is just around what any sports betting market is to expect, especially throughout busier sports seasons. 

On one side, having a five-week NFL calendar schedule in October allowed sportsbooks to generate a great deal of value out of more games for that specific period. Some upcoming months might see a decline in wagering activity. 

However, enough indicators show that Colorado’s legalized sports betting market will strengthen as major sports seasons hit their 2022 schedules.