Three out of ten Coloradans would vote for sports betting in November ballot, survey finds

A new survey found just 29% of voting-age Coloradans would vote “yes” for sports betting if the upcoming referendum were being held today. 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, a bill which was signed by Governor Jared Polis last month.

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; nearly 40% of respondents are undecided on the issue.

“These results are not particularly surprising given Governor Jared 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.”

“Voter education will be critical over the next few months,” said BettingUSA.com CEO Mike Murphy. “Special interest groups such as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Disney Worldwide Services spent millions on campaigns for and against a gambling referendum in Florida last year. We will not be surprised to see similar efforts in Colorado.”

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?”

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.