Colorado’s 2020 Sports Betting Handle Blows Past $1 Billion

Colorado was the 18th US state to hop into the regulated sports betting bandwagon when it launched its legal sports betting market on 1st May, right in the middle of the widespread pandemic-induced sports hiatus. But then, even with the handicapped start, the Centennial State managed to beat the odds and closed the 2020 calendar year with flying colors after scoring over $1,185,754,617 in sports wagers.

The billion-dollar breakthrough officially puts Colorado on the map as the sixth state in the USA to rack up 10 figures worth of wagers in a single year despite a late launch – nearly halfway through the year, and of course, the Covid-19 challenge that faced the industry at that time.

In a press statement, Dan Hartman, the Director of the Colorado Division of Gaming, welcomed the achievement saying;

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“Hitting the $1 billion mark is a milestone event for the department, leading us to believe that the trust and competition in the industry are leading bettors from the black market to the regulated market. We believe the legal marketplace is having and will continue to have a positive impact on Colorado.”

Mark Ferrandino, the Executive Director for the Colorado Department of Revenue also chimed in to express his delight in the same briefing as follows; 

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“I am thrilled to see the success of Colorado’s regulated sports betting program, especially coming out of a turbulent year. As we look to 2021, we are focused on continuing our collaborative stakeholder engagement to remain poised for success.”

Colorado Has Been on a Roll for Eight Consecutive Months

Colorado’s busy December served as a short in the arm to push the state past $1 billion last year. A total of $284.6 million was wagered by sports bettors in the last month of 2020, bringing in 23.1% more in sports bets compared to the previous month to best the state’s monthly handle yet again.

The Centennial state’s upward trend started since the regulated sports betting debut in May. By August, sports bettors in the state had wagered over $100 million in a month for the first time, recording a $128 million handle after a triple-digit 117% growth from July. This incredible winning streak continued in September when the state documented another first after topping $200 million, beating August’s record by 61% to collect $207.65 million worth of wagers.

Come October, the same record-smashing movement continued with a $210 million handle, then November’s $231.2 million, and December finished the year off on a high note to bring the annual total to $1.18 billion!

For taxes collected and revenue accrued, on the other hand, the graph’s pattern was zigzag-ish but it was still a good year for the state. From 1st May to 31st December, Colorado collected a total of $3.4 million in taxes, whereas sportsbook garnered $75.8 million in GGR (Gross Gaming Revenue) and $28.3 million in net betting proceeds.

The Centennial State’s Sports Betting Scene is Showing Great Potential

Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Indiana are the only other US states that have collected more than $1 billion from sports betting wagers in a single calendar year. New Jersey currently sits on the sports betting throne for the largest annual handle ever recorded for any US state with over $6 billion from 2020 after toppling Nevada’s $5.31 billion record set in 2019.

Bear in mind however that Illinois hasn’t formally announced its numbers for 2020’s sports betting performance but current projections indicate that the state’s handle will certainly surpass the $1 billion mark. As we speak, the Land of Lincoln has only released official 2020 gambling data up to October, and the total handle is $941.7 billion since sports betting went live in March. Thus, even if the state faced relatively poor performances for the last two months of the year compared to the Q3 2020, the overall handle for the year will without a doubt blow past ten figures.

From the look of things, Colorado is one of the states to watch in 2021 given that the outstanding performance was only from 8 months. With its first full year of sports betting just unwrapped, it will be an exciting year for Coloradoans and we can’t wait to see how the state will perform against the top 6 contenders.