- Coloradans wagered $486.3 million on sports in July, up 38% from a year earlier and 14% from June.
- World Cup betting reached $60.2 million, nearly 250% more than the 2022 tournament and $17.7 million above Super Bowl LX.
- Sportsbooks kept $45.5 million in net proceeds on a 9.61% statewide win rate.
- Colorado collected $4.6 million in taxes for water projects, up 68% from July 2025.
DENVER - Coloradans wagered $60.2 million on the 2026 World Cup, more than they bet on Super Bowl LX, pushing the state's July sports betting handle to $486.3 million, a 38% increase over July 2025, the Colorado Division of Gaming reported Aug. 31.
The Tournament Outdrew The Super Bowl
The $60.2 million in World Cup betting was a 245% increase over the $17.5 million Coloradans bet on the 2022 tournament in Qatar, according to the division's release. It also cleared the $42.5 million the state's bettors put on Super Bowl LX in February, a comparison the division itself drew in announcing the figures.
Soccer took $62.7 million for the month, 12.9% of all wagers, trailing only baseball's $103.1 million among individual sports. The tournament also paid the books, which held 11.4% of soccer wagers, the highest rate among the month's five most-bet sports, against 7.2% on baseball and 3.6% on basketball, the division's July proceeds report shows. Soccer money returned less per dollar than wagers on any other high-volume sport in July.
Taxes Grew Nearly Twice As Fast As Wagers
Colorado collected $4,562,888.71 in July, 68% more than the $2.7 million collected in July 2025 and 76% more than in June. The gap between 38% handle growth and 68% tax growth came from the win rate. Sportsbooks kept 9.61% of everything wagered, and parlays did the heaviest lifting, producing $22 million of the month's $46.7 million in gross revenue from 34.2% of wagers.
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Net proceeds after deductions came to $45.5 million, only $1.2 million below gross winnings, and nearly all of it was online sports betting revenue taxed at 10%. The state collected $2.6 million in June and $4.6 million in July on 14% more handle; the difference was the books' hold.
Water Projects Open The Fiscal Year Ahead
Christopher Schroder, director of the Division of Gaming, said the market's expansion and World Cup interest "generated substantial tax revenue in July to support clean water initiatives." Sports betting taxes fund the state's Water Plan Grant program, which supports projects such as wildfire-risk planning in the San Miguel watershed in southwestern Colorado.
Nearly all of the action moved through online sportsbooks that accept USA players, with apps taking $485 million of July's handle while retail windows handled $1.3 million and won just $40,200 gross. July marks the start of Colorado's fiscal year, so the $486.3 million in wagers and $4.6 million in taxes also stand as the fiscal-year-to-date totals the division will build on in its August report.
