Colorado has become the latest region to see its sports betting ecosystem suffer a maiden month-on-month decline in wagering, with the region continuing a trend experienced across the US.
The jurisdiction’s online and retail sportsbooks combined to take in $266.5m in bets in February, according to data released by the Colorado Department of Revenue’s Division of Gaming.
Overall handle was down 18.5 per cent from $326.9m in bets in January, and represents the lowest monthly handle since November’s $231.2m. Bettors placed about $9.5m bets per day in February, compared to $10.5m in January.
Sportsbooks generated $10.4m in gross gaming revenue, which is a drop from the record $23.1m one month earlier, and yielded $175,275 in net sports betting proceeds, down from $11.7m in January. That produced just $332,227 in state taxes.
“February is a reminder that with the seasonality of sports betting, growth is never assured even in a market like Colorado,” said Jessica Welman, analyst for PlayColorado.
“In nearly every legal betting market, a pullback from January was expected mainly because there is nowhere near the NFL inventory of games to bet on, even with the Super Bowl. Colorado is a unique market in many ways, but ultimately it is still subject to the same sports betting dynamics as any other state.”
February marks the first time since Colorado launched sports betting in May that sportsbooks failed to set a new monthly handle record for the state. Retail in particular had a tough month, generating just $7.5m in bets, with 96.9 per cent of all bets, or $258.2m, being made online.
Colorado is the seventh-largest market in the US, falling just short of Indiana’s $273.9m. Michigan, in its first full month of sports betting, topped both states with more than $325m in online and retail betting.
“The month-over-month growth streak was bound to be snapped, but the underlying fundamentals of the market remain strong,” added Ian St Clair, analyst for PlayColorado. “Retail sportsbooks continue to struggle amid the pandemic, but hopefully they will rebound as we move closer to normal.”
