The Colorado Division of Gaming has released sports betting figures for July, showing a 9.51% reduction in handle month-over-month from $310.7 million in June to $281.1 million in July.
It does, however, represent a 8.78% increase in year-over-year handle from 2022’s reported $258.4 million.
Colorado’s sports betting results followed the trend of other US states, in reporting decreased wagering activity but a higher hold percentage owing to operator-friendly sports betting results. Taxes rose 302.48% month-over-month from $441,950.58 to $1.8 million in July, reflecting the increase in taxable revenue. It was also 62.86% up year-over-year from July 2022.
Baseball made up 37.3% of wagers for the month of July, with Basketball betting the second highest by individual sport at 12.3%. Tennis sat third with 12.1%, with Soccer and Table Tennis making up the top five with 6.3% and 4.3% respectively. Parlays and a broad, ‘Other’ category made up 16.0% and 5.8% respectively.
Perhaps interestingly, only $27,054 was wagered in-person on Tennis but $33.9 million online, and $99,023 on soccer but $17.6 million online. The biggest outlier is Colorado bettors wagers on table tennis, which consistently pops up in the upper echelons of overall wager volume. The sport took just $25 in retail wagers, with over $12 million being placed online.
Colorado regulators have been mulling over new legislation specifically tailored to sports betting exchanges, as Sporttrade started operating in the state in late August. The expansion to Colorado was Sporttrade’s first expansion outside of New Jersey, but it has initially launched a CO mobile sports betting product that is without its flagship betting exchange.
The law in the state permits sports betting exchanges, but the sticking point for regulators remains the taxation and contributions to state from such an operator. Given an exchange facilitates peer-to-peer wagering and takes a small (2%) rake on each transaction, the margin is clearly below the typical hold achieved by other operators.
The state regulator is therefore concerned that an exchange would cannibalize existing sportsbook revenue and thus contributions to the state. After a vote to delay the decision, the Colorado Gaming Division will have to decide on a tax rate, which has been the sticking point thus far.