Survey Finds Just 29% of Colorado Residents Will Vote for Sports Betting in November
Editors Update: Contrary to the results of our survey, voters approved the ballot measure. Colorado sports betting is fully legal and available at retail sportsbooks and online betting apps.
A survey conducted by BettingUSA.com has found that just 29% of voting-age Coloradans would vote for the legalization of sports betting if the vote was held today.
The survey was conducted shortly after Governor Jared Polis signed a bill to put the issue of sports betting on the November ballot. Proposition D-D will appear on the ballot and ask voters if they would like to legalize sports betting at casinos and through mobile websites accessible across the state.
The survey asked 5,000 respondents how they would vote on the issue if that vote was being held today. Just 29% of respondents said they would vote “yes” to sports betting while 31.5% said they would vote no. Interestingly, 39.5% of respondents say they are unsure at this point.
If Proposition D-D receives a majority “yes” vote, casinos in Blackhawk, Central City and Cripple Creek will be allowed to operate retail sportsbooks.
Each casino will also be able to partner with an experienced online betting provider (think DraftKings and FanDuel) to run a mobile sportsbook open to customers 21+ located anywhere inside Colorado.
A 10% tax will be assessed on sports betting operators with the majority of that going to support Colorado’s Water Plan.
The plan seeks to safeguard Colorado’s water supply by improving supply to meet increasing demand, implementing plans to deal with droughts and introducing new conservation measures.
Although the news that voters will be deciding the fate of sports betting in Colorado is fairly recent, BettingUSA.com conducted a survey over the course of a few days in early June to get the pulse of voting-age Coloradans on the issue. The results of the survey and its methodology are presented below.
These early results indicate consumer education is still much-needed to decide the issue. Both the “yes” and “no” responses were significantly outnumbered by the number of responses for “I’m not sure.” Whichever side can move those undecided voters by November will have a very strong chance of achieving the outcome it wishes to see when the vote is held later this year.
Colorado Sports Betting Survey Results
The survey was conducted over a course of three days ranging from June 2nd, 2019 through June 5th, 2019 and received 5,000 responses from people located in Colorado. Answers were collected online by Google Surveys, which asked the viewers of news, information and entertainment articles to answer one question before proceeding to the article.
The following question was asked:
“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?”
There were three possible answers to the question which garnered the following response rates:
- Yes: 29%
- No: 31.5%
- I’m not sure: 39.5%
Breaking Down the Data
The survey results provided to BettingUSA.com by Google can be parsed through a variety filters showing how various age groups, each gender and combinations of both responded to the question of legalizing sports betting in CO.
The following charts show demographic on the left column (along with the number of respondents in that category) and their answers in the other three columns (with the modeled margin of error in parenthesis).
Survey Results by Gender and Age
| Yes | No | I’m not sure | |
| All men (2,613) | 36.4% (+1.9% / -1.8%) | 28.8% (+1.7% / -1.7%) | 34.8% (+1.9% / -1.8%) |
| Men 18-24 (193) | 36.8% (+7.0% / -6.5%) | 17.1% (+5.9% / -4.7%) | 46.1% (+7.0% / -6.9%) |
| Men 25-34 (539) | 41.2% (+4.2% / -4.1%) | 17.3% (+3.4% / -3.0%) | 41.6% (+4.2% / -4.1%) |
| Men 35-44 (488) | 41.2% (+4.4% / -4.3%) | 24.6% (+4.0% / -3.6%) | 34.2% (+4.3% / -4.1%) |
| Men 45-54 (554) | 36.6% (+4.1% / -3.9%) | 31.2% (+4.0% / -3.7%) | 32.1%
(+4.0% / -3.8%) |
| Men 55-64 (432) | 31.7% (+4.5% / -4.2%) | 41.0% (+4.7% / -4.5%) | 27.3% (+4.4% / -4.0%) |
| Men 65+ (407) | 28.7% (+4.6% / -4.2%) | 43.2% (+4.9% / -4.7%) | 28.0% (+4.6% / -4.1%) |
| Yes | No | I’m not sure | |
| All women (2,387) | 22.0% (+1.7% / -1.6%) | 34.1% (+1.9% / -1.8%) | 43.9% (+2.0% / -2.0%) |
| Women 18-24 (205) | 22.9% (+6.2% / -5.2%) | 23.4% (+6.3% / -5.3%) | 53.7% (+6.7% / -6.8%) |
| Women 25-34 (460) | 22.2% (+4.0% / -3.6%) | 25.4% (+4.2% / -3.8%) | 52.4% (+4.5% / -4.6%) |
| Women 35-44 (486) | 24.9% (+4.0% / -3.6%) | 29.8% (+4.2% / -3.9%) | 45.3% (+4.4% / -4.4%) |
| Women 45-54 (475) | 23.4% (+4.0% / -3.6%) | 37.5% (+4.4% / -4.2%) | 39.2%
(+4.5% / -4.3%) |
| Women 55-64 (425) | 17.6% (+3.9% / -3.3%) | 41.9% (+4.7% / -4.6%) | 40.5% (+4.7% / -4.6%) |
| Women 65+ (336) | 20.5% (+4.6% / -4.0%) | 48.5%
(+5.3% / -5.3%) | 31.0% (+5.1% / -4.7%) |
Survey Results by Age Only
| Yes | No | I’m not sure | |
| 18-24 (398) | 30.7% (+2.4% / -2.3%) | 21.0%
(+2.2% / -2.1%) | 48.2% (+2.7% / -2.6%) |
| 25-34 (999) | 31.7% (+2.9% / -2.8%) | 21.3% (+2.7% / -2.4%) | 47.0% (+3.1% / -3.1%) |
| 35-44 (974) | 32.4% (+3.0% / -2.8%) | 27.4% (+2.9% / -2.7%) | 40.2% (+3.1% / -3.1%) |
| 45-54 (1,029) | 30.0% (+2.8% / -2.7%) | 34.3% (+3.0% / -2.9%) | 35.6% (+3.0% / -2.9%) |
| 55-64 (857) | 24.2% (+2.9% / -2.7%) | 41.5% (+3.3% / -3.3%) | 34.3% (+3.3% / -3.1%) |
| 65+ (743) | 24.7% (+3.2% / -2.9%) | 45.8% (+3.6% / -3.6%) | 29.5% (+3.4% / -3.2%) |
Comparing Responses Among Demographics
In comparing the responses of various demographic groups, we can see men were generally more likely to support legalizing sports betting in Colorado while women were more likely to be undecided.
Men accounted for:
- 60.7% of all yes responses
- 44.2% of all no responses
- 42.6% of all undecided responses
Women accounted for:
- 39.3% of all yes responses
- 55.8% of all no responses
- 57.4% of all undecided responses
We can also compare responses by age group to see where support for legal sports betting is highest and lowest. Support for legalization was highest among the 25-54 age range and dropped off significantly at 55+. The older two age groups were also where we saw the highest levels of opposition.
The following chart shows the percentage of responses accounted for by each age group. For example, we can see below that the 18-24 age group accounted for 13.0% of yes responses.
| Yes | No | I’m not sure | |
| 18-24 | 13.0% | 8.4% | 16.5% |
| 25-34 | 22.6% | 14.0% | 24.6% |
| 35-44 | 19.3% | 15.0% | 17.5% |
| 45-54 | 19.2% | 20.2% | 16.7% |
| 55-64 | 12.8% | 20.1% | 13.3% |
| 65+ | 13.1% | 22.3% | 11.4% |
| Total
Respondent count | 100% 1,476 | 100% 1,601 | 100% 1,923 |
Interpreting the Results
The results of the survey at this early stage show proponents of Colorado sports betting have some work to do both in terms of persuasion and education.
If the Colorado sports betting referendum were held today, the measure would likely be shot down by a wide margin with the “yes” answer receiving the fewest number of hits among the three possible answers given.
However, “yes” and “no” were both still fairly close overall while “I’m not sure” won by a large margin. Sports betting proponents have a lot of potential votes still sitting in the undecided category. Moving a little more than half of those into the “yes” category through education and persuasion would be enough to nudge the measure into a passing majority.
Of course, the same goes for opponents of sports betting. That is a large contingent of undecideds for both sides to persuade. There are still months to go before the November election and these numbers are bound to change as election day approaches.
Survey Methodology and Raw Data
BettingUSA.com conducted the survey online using Google Surveys. Responses were collected by intercepting visitors of Google publisher network websites and asking a single question before allowing visitors to proceed to the content.
The Google publisher network consists of a diverse array of websites pertaining to news (74%), arts and entertainment (4%), reference (5%) and other (17%). Some of the more well-known sites on the publisher network include regional newspapers, USA Today and the Financial Times among many others.
The survey only presented questions to users determined to be 18 or older and located in Colorado at the time of access. A total of 5,000 responses were collected over the course of the survey.
Answers and Modeled Margin of Error
Google Surveys uses the Modified Wilson method to calculate the modeled margin of error, which means the figure is not always symmetrical. The results indicate that if this survey was repeated many times, the answers collected would fall within these ranges 95% of the time.
You can read more about the Google surveys methodology.
The BettingUSA.com survey results yielded the following modeled margins of error:
- Yes: 29.0% (+1.3% / -1.2%)
- No: 31.5% (+1.3% / -1.3%)
- I’m not sure: 39.5% (+1.4% / -1.4%)
Bias Table
Samples biases across all ages were within 5% of each target population. For example, the 25-34 age group represents 20.7% of the Colorado population and 20% of the survey respondents fit that category for a sampling bias of -0.7%.
The full bias table follows:
| Group | Target Population | Sample | Sample Bias |
| Male | 48.3% | 52.3% | 3.9% |
| Female | 51.7% | 47.7% | -3.9% |
| 18-24 | 12.9% | 8.0% | -5.0% |
| 25-34 | 20.7% | 20.0% | -0.7% |
| 35-44 | 17.2% | 19.5% | 2.2% |
| 45-54 | 18.5% | 20.6% | 2.0% |
| 55-64 | 15.3% | 17.1% | 1.9% |
| 65+ | 15.3% | 14.9% | -0.5% |
An Excel spreadsheet containing the raw data detailing every respondent’s answer, city of residence, age range, gender and more can be downloaded here.
Wes Burns has more than a decade’s worth of experience as a writer, researcher and analyst in the legal gambling industry and is co-founder of BettingUSA.com. As a former professional online poker player, Wes approaches his work from the viewpoint of players.
