The Colorado Department of Revenue has released its latest monthly revenue report revealing that the state’s licensed sportsbooks accepted over $505.6 million in wagers throughout the month of March, only the second time in history that the handle has topped $500 million.
March Madness drives sports betting handle to over half a billion
The figures represent an increase of 14.7% on the previous month’s handle of $440.5 million but still fell some way short of the state’s all-time monthly record of $573.5 million set in January of 2022. March also marks the seventh month in a row that the state’s sportsbooks have accepted over $400 million in wagers during a single month.
Basketball continues as the most popular sport at Colorado sportsbooks as local gamblers placed over $218.3 million in wagers on the NBA and a further $96.3 million on college basketball during the March Madness tournament. This represented 62.2% of all wagers placed during the month. Hockey was the next most popular sport as the NHL attracted over $26 million in wagers during the month.
Retail sports betting operators reported accepting $5.4 million in wagers for the month, a slight drop on the $5.5 million reported in the previous month. Mobile sports bets accounted for 98.9% of all betting activity as online sports betting apps accepted over $500.2 million in wagers throughout the month.
Players’ winnings for the month of March totaled just over $477.3 million with $472.1 million of this paid through mobile sports betting apps. Retail winnings amounted to $5.2 million.
Sportsbooks reported gross gaming revenue (GGR) of $28.2 million, a jump of 43.8% on the previous month. As a result, sports betting in Colorado generated state taxes of $1.3 million in March from a win percentage of 5.58%.
Based in London, Natasha is a former sports journalist with experience working for some of the biggest athletes & brands in the world of sports and iGaming.