Colorado Sports Betting Handle Hits $461.4 in December
Colorado managed to eclipse the $450 million mark in sports betting handle to end a busy 2021.
The state reported a December handle of $461.4 million, down 2.9% from November’s $475.4 million but was 62.2% higher than December 2020’s $284.6 million.
Online betting made up most of the handle with $454.9 million of the wagers placed online, a decrease of 3% from November’s $469 million and was 62.2% more than December 2020’s $280.4 million. Mobile sports betting made up 98.6% of the overall handle, with $6.5 million placed at retail locations.
Gross gaming revenue from sports betting came to $24.7 million in December, down 32.8% from November’s $36.8 million and was 44.2% higher than December 2020’s $17.2 million. November was a monthly revenue record for Colorado.
Colorado’s total sports betting taxes for December was $770,370, a decrease of 61.1% from November’s $1.9 million and was 44.9% higher than December 2020’s $531,490.
Colorado Sports Betting, December vs. November
| Total Handle | Mobile Handle | Revenue (GGR) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| December | $461.449M | $454.937M | $24.732M |
| November | $475.441M | $469.007M | $36.782M |
| Change | Down 2.9% | Down 3.0% | Down 32.8% |
Football Top Sport
NFL betting took in the most amount of action in Colorado, with a total handle of $136.5 million. Coming in second was the NBA, which recorded a handle of $125.5 million. College basketball was third at $27.5 million, while college football was fourth at $24.5 million and hockey rounded out the top five at $14.5 million.
The top five remained the same from November except for college basketball and college football switching places in December. College football will likely see a drop-off in handle since December was the last month with a full weekend of games, in addition to the bowl games that marked the end of the season for many teams.
Other sports accounted for $20.3 million of the handle and parlays made up $79.4 million in bets.
2021 Totals
For 2021, Colorado tallied a sports betting handle of $3.8 billion for the year. Mobile sports betting accounted for $3.7 billion of the overall handle. The yearly total for sports betting revenue came in at $250.1 million.
Colorado eclipsing the $3 billion mark in handle is impressive considering the state took in $1.2 billion in wagers throughout 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic did limit the number of sports and betting action during the year, but the increased activity shows the willingness of Coloradoans to wager in a legalized and regulated market.
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