The Colorado Division of Gaming on Thursday reported sportsbooks across the Centennial State posted a 10.2% hold against $320.4 million in handle for July, the second-highest win rate in 51 months of legal commercial betting.
The percentage trailed only the 11.4% hold attained in September 2022 and was also the second time in the last three months operators reached double digits. Sportsbooks notched a 10.1% win rate in May.
The good outcomes for operators resulted in $32.5 million in gross sports betting revenue. That was up 30.4% from last year and easily outpaced the 14% rise in handle. July winnings also were up 15.4% compared to June despite handle being 8.6% lower.
The state was eligible to levy taxes on almost $25 million in adjusted gross revenue, re-directing close to $2.4 million of that amount into its tax coffers. Colorado has collected $17.6 million in taxes through the first seven months of 2024 from sports betting, over $3.6 million more than the same period last year.
Record Revenue Haul For Baseball
Running July Top 10 #SportsBetting handles by state:
1 New York $1.26B
2 New Jersey $652.3M
3 Penn. $414.7M
4 Mass. $411.8M
5 Nevada $375.9M
6 N. Carolina $340.4M
7 Maryland $333.3M
8 COLO. $320.4M
9 Tenn. $271.5M
10 Indiana $261.1M#SportsBettingX#GamblingX— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) August 29, 2024
Despite having one of the two worst teams in the National League to wager against in their backyard in the Colorado Rockies, bettors struggled with baseball betting in July. The house cleared $7.8 million — a record monthly haul since launching in 2020 — while posting an 8.3% hold from $94.6 million in handle. The previous high for operator winnings in baseball was $7.3 million in July 2022.
Though parlays accounted for the second-largest percentage of handle in dollars at 20%, it was the biggest source of revenue for operators as they claimed close to $11.7 million while notching an 18.2% hold from $64 million worth of wagers. It was the first time parlay revenue reached eight figures in the month of July in Colorado, with handle surging 42.7% from last year and revenue spiking 51.2%. The near-16% hold on parlays this year, which has resulted in $110.7 million in revenue, is more than double the overall statewide 7.8% win rate.
Basketball rounded out the top three spots for revenue by category with $3.4 million as operators had a modest 6.1% win rate from $55.8 million worth of wagers. Colorado sportsbooks had a positive revenue swing of $19.6 million in basketball — reaping $15.2 million in winnings — when comparing the year-over-year results from May through July as the Denver Nuggets failed to repeat as NBA champions.
Sportsbooks posted seven-figure revenue totals in tennis ($2.2 million), soccer, ($2.1 million) and table tennis ($1.1 million). It was the third consecutive month the popular niche sport reached $1 million in revenue after doing just twice in the first four years of betting.
The Colorado Division of Gaming did not specify Olympic wagering in its monthly breakdowns but did have a category of "summer athletics" in which operators had a robust 25.9% hold in collecting $380,200 in winnings from $1.5 million worth of wagers.
Year-Over-Year Action Notably Higher
Handle through the first seven months of 2024 has totaled $3.35 billion, up 17.2% from the same period last year. The 7.8% win rate for operators is nearly two-thirds of a percentage point higher, contributing to a 28% rise in gross revenue to $262.1 million. Adjusted gross revenue has slightly exceeded that pace as the $178.7 million in taxable winnings represents a 28.8% increase.
Colorado also became only the sixth state to surpass $19 billion in total handle in the post-PASPA era and looks poised to surpass $20 billion with September's figures.
