Colorado’s licensed sportsbooks collected total wagers of $266.5m from online and retail betting operations in February 2021.

Wagers were down 18.5 per cent compared to the previous month’s record performance, with the state’s 19 online operators generating wagers of $258.2m, and Colorado’s 17 retail operators the remaining $8.3m.

Despite the decline in handle, February’s total was the third-highest for the state, behind January 2021 ($326m) and December 2020 ($284m), with the sequential decline attributed to February falling between the end of the professional American football season and the beginning of March Madness.

“One year ago, we were talking about the casinos in Colorado shutting down due to the pandemic,” said Colorado Division of Gaming director Dan Hartman. “This March, in comparison, we’re looking forward to a new outlook for the gaming industry, given the open sportsbook retail locations and multiple online options.

“Add in the March Madness championships, and we believe all of these factors will continue the growth trajectory that we see with sports betting in Colorado.”

Once again, professional basketball was the most popular sport during the month with wagers of $95.0m, following by professional American football at $39.6m and NCAA Basketball at $24.2m.

Table Tennis was the next most popular sport with $13.0m in wagers, ahead of ice hockey at $9.5m and soccer at $6.9m.

With $256.1m paid out to players in winnings during the month, comprising $247.2m online and $8.9m from retail, licensed operators generated gross gaming revenue of $10.4m in February, a fall of 55 per cent versus the previous month.

Total net sports betting proceeds amounted to $175,275, with the state receiving taxes of $332,227, down from $1.2m in January.

Gaming Intelligence