Sports betting is booming in Colorado. The state’s Department of Revenue recently released the October totals, with a record number of bets placed for the month. The market is doing so well, that Colorado is now the 6th state in the US to reach the $4 billion mark in wagers. For October, the state’s retail and mobile sportsbooks generated just over $491 million in bets.

October Total Breakdown

The Halloween month was a good one in Colorado, with the state seeing an increase in bets by over 20% just from September. The sports betting total was over 50% higher than the previous year. Along with a boosted handle, the state also saw an increase in gross gaming revenues.

In October, sportsbooks brought in over $28 million, beating its previous monthly record or $23.1 million from January 2021. Over $1.2 million was paid in taxes, eclipsing any month thus far since the industry got started less than two years ago.

Football dominated the handle, with players posting $171.2 million in wagers on professional football in October. This generated more than 34% of the total. Operators were able to earn over $6 million from that amount. NFL games have been popular in the state with over $290 million bets since the new season started.

Additional Wagering

Aside from football, bettors were interested in baseball, basketball, and table tennis. Baseball was beneficial to operators as over $3 million was generated from over $37 million in bets, producing a win rate of more than 9%.

Basketball fans wagered over $63 million with over $2 million generated. The NBA has been quite popular among Colorado bettors, especially games including the Denver Nuggets. The hold was around 3.88% in this sector.

Table tennis is also popular in the state, and in October, the win rate leaned towards the bettor. Operators say only 4.08% hold, collecting just over $420,000 from over $10 million in wagers.

Hockey was also in the mix for October, with operators earning over $1 million from more than $13 million in bets placed.

Coming a Long Way Since 2021 Started

With over $490 billion in wagers this month, Colorado has come a long way this year. When 2021 began, the state saw a record month in January with sports betting totals. More than $326 million was wagered, generating over $22 million in revenues. However, this amount is small compared to what the state has done in October.

It seems bettors are continuing to visit online sites and casino facilities to post their bets month after month. Records continue to be broken as more people get in on the action. Most bets placed in the state come from mobile wagering as that is the preferred option among bettors.

It will be interesting to see how Colorado rounds out the year and if the remaining months will be just as successful leading into 2022.