A bill placing new limits on sports betting passed the Colorado Senate in a 20-14 vote on Tuesday and now heads to the House for consideration.
SB131 would ban some forms of sportsbook marketing, bar users from using credit cards to fund accounts, and limit the number of deposits a bettor can make in a single day.
The Senate approved the bill as the legislative session nears its conclusion on May 13.
Sen. Matt Ball (D) sponsored the legislation and believes the bill will help curb problem gambling in the state.
“Online sports betting has placed casinos in the pocket of nearly every Coloradan, with little protections built in for those addicted to gambling or our young people,” Ball told Colorado Newsline.
“(The bill) honors what voters approved in 2019 while making sure that an industry that has grown from $1 billion to more than $6 billion wagered in just a few years isn’t doing so at the cost of our families’ financial security, our kids’ wellbeing, or the integrity of the games we love.”
Sports Betting Restrictions
The legislation bans push notifications and texts from sports betting operators. Additionally, customers would no longer have the option to fund accounts with credit cards. Lastly, the bill caps user deposits at five over a 24-hour period.
But the bill also puts restrictions on advertising. Operators could no longer run television ads during daytime hours or during live sports broadcasts. Sportsbooks must also supply transaction data and other information to the state for a report on the industry.
During debate in the Senate, lawmakers removed a ban on NCAA prop bets. Revenue from Colorado sports betting is earmarked for the state’s water projects and Ball believes that funding should still be mainly intact if the bill becomes law.
The Denver senator estimates the state will only lose about $800,000 with the new rules in place. That would have been significantly higher with a ban on prop bets. If that had been left in place, the state would have lost an estimated $2.4 million a year. The state has collected $143.2 million in tax revenue since sports betting launched in the Centennial State in 2019.
Problem Gambling Concerns
Lawmakers and researchers alike have expressed concerns over the growing issue of problem gambling over the last few years as sports betting has expanded across the country.
A recent study from the University of California-Los Angeles and University of Southern California found that online sports betting has resulted in lower credit scores and higher rates of bankruptcies for many Americans.
The nonprofit Healthier Colorado praised the efforts to rein in the industry.
“Calls to our state’s gambling addiction hotline have jumped nearly 50% since legalization, and the harm continues to grow,” the group said. “We applaud the bipartisan sponsors of SB-131 for listening to the data, the experts, and the Coloradans living with this every day.”
Dropping the NCAA prop bet ban comes as some states have limited this wagering option in recent months. The association has pushed for states to restrict this type of bet on college athletics.
