While the people of Colorado were celebrating the Colorado Avalanche’s recent Stanley Cup win, their local sportsbook operators were taking a major hit. That’s because confident Coloradans cashed in futures bets on the hockey team that ultimately won the championship, and tanked operator revenue for June.
According to a recent report from SBC Americas, Colorado operators took in an impressive $312 million worth of wagers in June. That sounds fantastic until you hear about the $1.9 million in losses during the same month. So what happened?
From the numbers, it appears that June bettors laid down $29.5 million in wagers, but were paid out $31.5 from the sportbooks. That’s likely because many of the wagers that were paid were futures bets on an Avalanche team that almost every pundit had picked as the Stanley Cup winner.
The Avalanche impact was also clearly visible when comparing June 2022 to June 2021 revenue. In June 2021, Colorado operators netted $7.4 million on $229.7 million worth of wagers. That handle is 36 percent lower than the reported number for June 2022.
Despite the hype around the Avalanche, hockey was actually only the third most popular sport for betting in June in Colorado. Baseball led the charge with $106.5 million in wagers and $4 million worth of payouts. Basketball came in second with $106.5 million in handle and $44.9 million paid back to winners. Basketball was similarly influenced by a popular team, the Golden State Warriors, winning the NBA championship.
June’s handle was down a little bit from May’s $330 million, but was considered to be very good for what is normally a slow month for American sportsbooks.