Basketball Draws Over Half of All Colorado Sports Bets in March

With the NBA playoffs in full flow, basketball comprised more than half of all bets in Colorado in March. Considering the popularity of March Madness, the second-most bet sport was college basketball.

In total, close to $300 million was wagered on basketball in Colorado in March. Of that, $297.2 million was bet online while $1.7 million was wagered in retail sportsbooks. Online books returned $280.3 million to players. Overall, sportsbooks generated a profit of almost $18 million on basketball in March having returned $281.9 million to customers.

Parlays were the second-highest sector of bets in Colorado, with 21.1% of all wagers being combination bets. Close to $125 million of parlays were placed online. The hold on parlays, like most other states, was high for the state, with sportsbooks collecting a profit of close to $19 million. In the online space, $106.1 million was returned to players.

College basketball was also another popular category for bettors. March Madness contributed 6.1% of all the bets in Colorado in March. A total of $36.2 million was wagered in March Madness, with $35.1 million bet using online sportsbooks. The hold rate for sportsbooks was low, with $34.3 million retained, resulting in a profit of a little below $2 million.

Among the next tier of sports, tennis picked up a lot of wagering action. Close to $30 million was wagered on tennis events in March, with sportsbooks across retail and online, generating more than $2 million in profits. Soccer generated $21.1 million in bets in March. Of that, $19.6 million was paid back to customers, with sportsbooks generating a profit of $1.5 million.

Colorado Total Handle Nears $600 Million

While Colorado does not disclose individual operator data, the state reported that $593 million was collected in sports betting handle in March. Of that, $589.3 million was placed using online sportsbooks while retail books picked up $3.8 million in sports wagers.

Retail locations collected a small profit of under $200,000 at a hold rate of 4.4%, which meant that the majority of gaming revenue was collected from the state’s online operators. A total of $544.4 million was returned to players from online books, resulting in a profit of $44.9 million. The state’s operators generated $45 million in total profit in March.

Net sports betting proceeds totaled $31.6 million in March. The state collected taxes of $2.8 million. Online sportsbooks had a win rate of 7.61%, which brought the state’s total hold to 7.59%. March’s metrics were significantly better month-on-month with a jump of $57 million in betting handle from February’s tally of $536.9 million.

Colorado Substantial Increase From 2023

Colorado sports betting made a significant improvement in handle from March last year, with a jump of close to $100 million. In March 2023, Colorado’s operators collected $494.4 million in wagers. Colorado has now collected handle of more than $500 million in seven straight months.

In 2023, the state managed a betting handle of $5.56 billion. At a hold rate of 7%, sports betting operators managed to pick up gaming revenue of $392 million. In 2022 as well, betting handle surpassed $5 billion, with revenue of $352 million at a win rate of 6.8%. The state collected tax of close to $20 million in 2022.

When compared to 2023, the first three months of 2024 have all comfortably crossed last year’s totals, led by a jump of more than $110 million in Feb. 2024 against last year. In total, more than $1.7 billion has already been collected in sports betting handle in the first quarter of this calendar year. That could set the state up for a record-breaking year in wagers, with betting handle possibly well over $6 billion.

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