For March, Colorado announced the second-highest volume month in the state’s first year of sports betting.
According to PlayColorado, the rise in wagers meant Colorado became the sixth US state to surpass $2bn in lifetime bets. The state reached this figure just 11 months after sports betting launched in the area.
Analyst for PlayColorado, Ian St. Clair, said: “With the NCAA Tournament, a return to growth is no surprise, but it is still good to see after a bit of a relatively disappointing month.
“Considering the circumstances Colorado launched under, at a time when major US sports were dormant, the state really has been one the US sports betting industry’s great success stories.”
With most of the NCAA tournament in March, the two Colorado basketball games saw $71m in bets; however, pro basketball remained the most popular as it took in $106.9m in bets.
The $300.1m received in March by Colorado online and retail sportsbooks was up 12.9% from February’s $266.5m, bettors placed around $9.7m of bets per day in March.
This led to a gross gaming revenue of $20.4m, which is nearly double the amount of revenue gained in February.
Colorado was able to provide the state with $1.1m in taxes for March, after the yielded $10.6m in net sports betting proceeds and $9m in promotional credits were considered.
Since sports betting launched in Colorado, sportsbooks have injected $5.6m into the state; in comparison the state’s closest competitor, Indiana has collected $2.5m in state taxes.
