Those house-friendly results from November resulted in record revenue for Colorado sports betting, like many other US jurisdictions.
Colorado sportsbooks reported $36.8 million in gross revenue. That is up 28.5% from the previous record set in October when Colorado also reported a record $491.5 million in handle.
November fell short of that handle record at $475.4 million, down 3.3% from October. That can be attributed to October’s favorable calendar, though, which included five full Friday through Sunday football weekends.
While that sports betting revenue is a record, it is important to remember Colorado lets operators deduct promotional spending. After the $17.4 million deducted in November, Colorado was left with $19.3 million in taxable revenue.
That led to just under $2 million in taxes paid, according to the official report. Both the adjusted taxable revenue and taxes paid were also new records.
Basketball helps balance Colorado sports betting
Both college and professional basketball helped ease the burn of one fewer weekend of NFL betting and college football betting.
Professional football still led the pack with $140.3 million in handle. The books held 10.3% on pro football, or $14.4 million worth of revenue.
Professional basketball was not far behind, though. Bettors wagered $124.7 million on pro basketball in November, though hold was just 1.9% with $2.3 million in revenue.
What else drew CO sportsbook action
College football and basketball were fairly close in handle – $29.4 million for football and $29 million for basketball. Books were a bit underwater on college football with $29.7 million paid out. Basketball made a slice of revenue at $463,673.
The bulk of November’s record revenue came from parlays. Bettors wagered $83.8 million on parlays with operators keeping $17.1 million, or a 20.4% hold.
Colorado does not give information by operator. That means there is no insight on how US leaders like BetMGM, DraftKings Sportsbook or FanDuel Sportsbook performed.
US hit record revenue in November
There are still three states left to report November figures but the month already set a new US sports betting monthly revenue record.
Reported revenue stands at $588.2 million, which is up 123.1% from November 2020. Arizona, Delaware and Illinois reports remain outstanding as of Tuesday morning.
Arizona finally reported figures from its first two months of operations, meaning totals for September and October are complete:
- September: $5.494 billion bet with $443.1 million in revenue, up a respective 90.8% and 118.4% year-over-year.
- October: $7.552 billion bet with $441.4 million in revenue, up a respective 130.7% and 57% year-over-year.
- November, so far: $6.141 bet with $588.2 million in revenue, up a respective 103.8% and 123.1% year-over-year.
That means the three remaining states need to report $1.410 billion in handle for November to continue the record handle streak.
It should be close: those three combined for $1.349 billion in handle for October.
