Colorado Sports Betting Handle $231,238,842 for November

• The Colorado Dept. of Revenue posts that the total sports handle for November has posted an all time high with $231,238,842
• Wagerers in Colorado prefer online/mobile sports betting with $226,872,186 being placed online.

With the sports betting industry slowly but surely getting opened up in recent years, the periodic releases of sports handle figures by state gambling authorities have quickly become a hotly watched news item. And with interest in the sports betting industry at an all-time peak, it seems that there is real growth in the industry these days.

With that said, Colorado is the latest state gambling authority to have released its monthly figures. The sports handle, as the total amount of money waged by bettors in the state that month, shows strong signs that the sports betting industry in Colorado is experiencing a healthy growth rate these days.

Following on from the strong figures released last month for October, which posted a 1.48% growth rate, the total sports handle for November shows a solid increase once again.

Mobile/Online Still an Increasingly Dominant Market

This was thanks, no doubt, to the Thanksgiving boost we usually see reflected in these kinds of figures. The total sports betting revenue for wagers placed by mobile sports betting sites were up once again, seeing a steady increase from the October figures. We would imagine this boost was due to the traveling that typically occurs around the Thanksgiving holidays. The boost in mobile betting matches the previous figures both in Colorado and other states, with mobile platforms beginning to clearly establish themselves as the preferred medium for sports betting fans.

As we have come to expect based on previous press releases, Coloradans remain committed to football as their sport of choice, particularly as Major League Baseball tapers off in November. NCAA football sports betting continued to be a popular choice for fans, capturing a sizeable chunk of the total sports handle for November.

In terms of how sports betting in Colorado is stacking up against other states in terms of total revenue, whilst not posting quite the same levels as other larger states, Colorado nevertheless seems to be experiencing similar levels of growth in terms of the overall trend.

Based on historic trends, betting figures will typically be expected to flatten somewhat in an election year. This certainly seems to be true based on the figures released today, which seem to be flattening when compared to previous months.

Overall, then, whilst not setting quite the same record-breaking margins as other larger states did for the month of November, the Colorado figures nevertheless show that the sports betting market is continuing to grow since it was first launched in May.

Growth Continues Despite a Rough Year

November marks the seventh month that the Colorado betting authorities have released the sports handle figures, with each month seeing an incremental increase on the previous. And whilst longer-term trends are hard to identify at such an early stage, these indicators are certainly positive – overall, the future for the industry looks bright.

A question remains, however, as to what impact the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic will have on the sports handle for December, given the possibility that the rising infection numbers might cause games to be canceled. Although there have been a number of outbreaks linked to teams, the official word is that business will carry on as usual for the foreseeable future—or at least until the season is seen out. December is typically a bumper month for sports betting, which is particularly true for the NFL as the season begins to draw to a close.

What impact the quarantining of quarterbacks and the repeated rescheduling of games will have on the sports handle figures for December, however, remains to be seen. This is made all the more uncertain given that the NFL commissioner has recently commented that professional athletes will have to wait in line for the vaccine with the rest of the population.