Hockey has never been a huge betting draw in the US, including the CO sports betting market. All it took was a Stanley Cup run to change that.
Colorado sportsbooks handled $127.3 million in hockey bets during the Colorado Avalanche‘s 2022 Stanley Cup-winning postseason, according to a spokesperson for the Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission on Friday.
That included $96.9 million bet on the first three rounds of the NHL Playoffs. Another $30.4 million was bet during the Stanley Cup Finals.
Boost shows impact of local teams in sports betting
The Colorado regulator did not have an exact comparison to 2021 NHL Playoff betting, but even a rough estimate shows impressive growth.
The 2021 NHL Playoffs ran from May 15 through July 7 because of 2021’s sports schedules still catching up from COVID delays. Colorado sportsbooks took $27.7 million in bets in those three months, as the Avalanche were eliminated in the second round by the Vegas Golden Knights.
That nearly $100 million increase represents a 359.6% jump over the prior year.
How will hockey boost translate to revenue?
A full revenue report for the entire NHL Playoffs was not available but there is some insight available from May’s report.
May’s hockey bets totaled $35.7 million, but that translated to just $828,804 in operator revenue. That is a 2.3% hold.
A similar hold on the remaining $91.6 million would result in $2.1 million in revenue. Colorado’s average hold of 6.3% since launch would bring in $5.8 million.
Estimating tax revenue in the Colorado market is nearly impossible. The state taxes sports betting revenue at 10% but also allows promotional deductions.
CO sports betting growing strongly after 2 years
Sports betting in Colorado launched in May 2020 and is one of the top US sports betting jurisdictions based on reported numbers:
- $7.3 billion in handle, 7th best in US
- $458.1 million in operator revenue, 9th in US
- $20.6 million in tax revenue, 13th in US
The $360.3 million bet in May is up 44.7% from last year in the same month. Handle dipped 8.2% in May from April, but that is better than the industry average drop of 10.7%.
May’s $27.1 million in revenue grew 78.9% over last May and 20.1% over April.
