The American gambling industry continues to prosper. Record figures were seen in Colorado and Virginia.
In Colorado, a record $573.3 million (£430.6 million) was wagered on sports in the first month of 2022. It was a busy month for sport with the NFL reaching its play-off stages. However, it was basketball that was the most popular sport to bet on with $163.6 million in total bets during January. That was $22.6 million ahead of American Football.
Gross Gaming Revenue for the month totalled $34.6 million. That figure is up 49.8% on the amount earned in January of last year. It wasn’t a record though, that’s still the $36.8 million achieved in October 2021.
The $573.3 million wagering figure smashed the previous record of $491.5 million that was set in October 2021. Compared to the January 2021 figure, it was a massive 75.5% higher.
Of that the total amount wagered in January, just $6.6 million was placed at retail sportsbooks in Colorado. The remaining $567.1 million worth of bets were all made online. Of the $34.6 million Gross Gaming revenue, just $437,090 came from retail wagering facilities. All of which shows the impact that online betting has achieved in the US.
State Tax Benefits from US Bets
Politicians will be happy with the figures as they received $1.4 million in tax from all the betting on sport. As for the gamblers themselves, they won $539.1 million during the month.
It was a similar story in the US state of Virginia. January was a record-breaking month with $485.5 million in wagers. That beat the previous record of $427.3 million (set in October 2021) by just over 13%. The average daily wagering average was $15.7 million, up from $13.8 million in the previous month.
Dann Stupp is a lead analyst for PlayVirginia. He says that the gambling industry “made a giant leap forward during the (American) Football season, and that has it on a solid footing for the year ahead.”
The Gross Gaming Revenue figure for January was $39.1 million. That wasn’t a record figure but an increase on the $31.5 million figure for December 2021. Again, politicians had good reason to celebrate as they received $2.9 million in state taxes.
Sports betting was launched in Virginia in January of last year. Since that launch, the amounts wagered have more than doubled. PlayUSA analyst Eric Ramsey believes that the sportsbooks in Virginia have “significant room for growth.”
New customers have signed-up in the past five months and those who had joined when sports betting was made legal, are placing more bets now they are “more familiar with the myriad products online sportsbooks are offering. February’s results may be even higher due to the Super Bowl which saw massive amounts of bets being placed.
