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An interesting trend is still sticking around in Colorado. Even as major professional sports in America have returned following a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, sports bettors are still taking a liking to table tennis.
In March of this year, people wagered $8.8 million on table tennis, which marked twice as much as was wagered on mixed martial arts. That month, table tennis was the sixth-most bet-on sport in the state.
But, that was an aberration. Table tennis ranked fourth in January and April of this year, even as major professional sports are back in the U.S.
Initial Popularity Not Surprising
The initial betting attention that table tennis got is actually not much of a surprise. The COVID-19 pandemic began in the U.S. just as a lot of states began offering legal sports bets.
In Colorado, for example, legal sports betting was first offered on May 1 of last year. The problem, of course, was there weren’t a lot of options for bettors to choose from.
Nearly every major professional sports league around the world was shut down because of the pandemic. So, people who wanted to wager legally in Colorado had to look around for what was available.
In the first month of legal sports betting in Colorado, $6.6 million was wagered on table tennis.
Many people expected that attention to wane as major U.S. professional sports returned to the playing field. In Colorado, though, that didn’t happen.
In fact, wagering on table tennis grew by $2.2 million in Colorado from May 2020 to March 2025. So, what’s the deal?
Lots of Action
Colorado sports bettors have loved the action that table tennis provides. It’s not just the sport itself, though, but how the Eastern European leagues are arranged.
On any given day, there are loads of table tennis matches to wager on, with a new match starting roughly every 15 minutes. It’s a March Madness-style format that is attracting Colorado bettors to the sport.
Bettors in other states seem willing to wait until the typical evening slate of games for MLB, NBA and NHL, and for the fall weekends for the NFL and college football. Coloradoans, however, seem to like the constant action that table tennis provides in between.
Not Concerned About Controversies
Table tennis has been flush with controversy over the last year, especially after it started attracting attention from bettors with other sports on hiatus.
There have been many accusations of match fixing in Russian table tennis leagues. New Jersey even put a halt on gambling for table tennis matches held in Ukraine. Sports betting regulators in the state were concerned about some irregularities and match-fixing concerns in matches that involved six players.
Bettors in Colorado don’t seem to be concerned, though. They are wagering on table tennis at record paces, and don’t seem to be slowing down at all.