May is never a great month for legal sports betting. But states like Colorado were in a stronger position than most thanks to the Denver Nuggets, who played in every round of the NBA playoffs. But despite the extra exposure, Colorado’s betting market was unable to grow compared to April, which had the NCAA tournament and Colorado Avalanche games to its credit.
Colorado's Department of Revenue reported that the state's retail and online operators took in $385.2 million in May, a 7.8% monthly decline, falling below $400 million for the first time this year.
While May was the worst month in 2023, its handle, hold, and tax bill were all better than May 2022. The Centennial State saw a nearly 7% yearly growth in its betting market, and thanks to a higher hold, led to a 37.5% jump in tax revenue, hitting $2.2 million.
Bettors see basketball success
Having the home team dominate in the playoffs is never good news for the region's books, and that was the case in Colorado sports betting.
Bettors brought down the betting sites' overall hold percentage from 8.4% to 8.1%, all thanks to the Nuggets and their march towards their first NBA championship. The month of May had the second round of the NBA playoffs and the conference finals; and not surprisingly, Coloradans watched and bet.
Basketball (not counting parlays) was the most popular sport to bet on in May, consisting of 32.2% of the entire market, beating baseball (23.8%), and tennis (7.4%). And while the operators made a profit in their NBA bets, it was much lower than usual. The hold percentage was just 4%, the lowest of every sport.
And compared to 2022, basketball bets grew by roughly 20%, while the popularity of baseball stayed unchanged year over year.
