Sports Betting Lags in Popularity in Some States

Just 29 percent of voting-age Coloradans would vote “yes” for sports betting if the upcoming referendum were being held today, according to a survey conducted by BettingUSA.com.

The survey was conducted in anticipation of a measure that will appear on the November ballot in Colorado asking voters if they would like to legalize sports betting at casinos and through mobile apps.

BettingUSA.com conducted the survey via Google Surveys from June 2 to 5, 2019. The survey collected 5,000 responses from people 18 or older and located inside Colorado.

The survey found:

• 29% of voting-age Coloradans would vote to approve legalizing sports betting in Colorado if the referendum were held today
• 31.5% of voting-age Coloradans would oppose the measure if the referendum were held today
• Nearly 40% of respondents are undecided on the issue

“These results are not particularly surprising given Governor Polis only recently signed the legislation calling for a referendum in November,” said BettingUSA.com Editor in Chief Wes Burns. “Many potential voters are still unaware the issue will be appearing on the November ballot. We anticipate groups on both sides of the issue will be gearing up their campaigns to sway voters one way or another over the next few months.”

If a majority of voters approve the measure, Colorado casinos will be authorized to launch retail sportsbooks and mobile betting apps. Sports betting providers will pay a 10% tax on revenue, with the majority of that money going to Colorado’s Water Plan to support water conservation and supply.

Survey results were collected by intercepting visitors to Google Publisher Network websites and asking them to answer one question before proceeding to the desired content. Google uses a variety of methods to determine user age and location in order to acquire responses from a particular audience – in this case people 18 or older and located in Colorado.

The survey polled 5,000 people and matched the sample population to the target population by age and gender within a bias range of 0.5% to 5%. All respondents were asked the following question:

In November, Colorado voters will vote on whether or not to legalize sports betting. If that vote was being held today, would you vote YES or NO?

Responses to the survey broke down as follows:

• Yes: 29.0% (+1.3% / -1.2%)
• No: 31.5% (+1.3% / -1.3%)
• I’m not sure: 39.5% (+1.4% / -1.4%)

The survey also found that men were more likely to approve sports betting than women, and that respondents 45 and older were more likely to vote against sports betting. More detailed results and survey methodology can be found at BettingUSA.com here.