Colorado Sports Gambling Revenue Soar in July

On May 1 of this year, sports betting went live in Colorado. At the same time, all major league sports were sitting idle as the Coronavirus pandemic wrecked havoc all over the sports world. With nothing to wager on, it was going to be a while before the Colorado gambling industry was going to find out how well Colorado residents were going to embrace the opportunity to wager legally on sports.

The numbers are in for July, and the entire Colorado gambling industry couldn't be happier. For July, Colorado bookmakers (retail and online combined) took in a remarkable $59.2 million in sports betting handle. That puts more than $5.0 million of tax revenue in the state's coffers. It also represents an increase of around 55% over June's revenue numbers.

What makes these numbers so remarkable is that most of the wagering action was confined to MLB, which started close to the middle of July. For all intents, the $59.2 million represents only three weeks or so of real betting action. In case anyone is wondering how Colorado's numbers compare to more established sports betting states like Nevada and New Jersey, those two states reported July revenue of $65.4 million and $59.6 million respectively. Colorado's numbers were solid for a state that had only been taking sports wagers for three months.

If there are any doubts about the importance of online sports betting, online sports betting activity account for 99% of the betting action. Of course, retail sportsbooks are located in Colorado casinos still haven't opened to full capacity.

While the numbers are certainly pleasing, no one is really surprised. Colorado residents love sports. They love playing sports and now it's clear they like legally wagering on sports. All of this enthusiasm is likely attributable to the fact Colorado residents support teams in all four U.S. Sports. The list of teams includes Colorado Rockies (MLB), Denver Nuggets (NBA), Colorado Avalanche (NHL), and the Denver Broncos (NFL).

With the NBA and NHL getting underway in August, industry officials are looking forward to seeing August numbers. Likewise, September is expected to be even stronger with the NFL scheduled to kick off the second week of September. That would put all four U.S. major league sports on the docket at the same time for the first time.

The best bet of the year would be betting that there are a bunch of states paying attention to what's happening in Colorado.