Colorado Sports Betting Bill Passes Senate, Heads To Governor

A bill that would legalize sports betting in Colorado passed through the state Senate last Friday and will now head to the desk of Gov. Jared Polis.

HB 1327, a bipartisan bill, would decriminalize sports betting on May 1, 2020. If signed by Polis, the bill will become a ballot measure in Colorado this November, giving citizens the final say in whether the practice is legalized.

Citizens get the last say because Colorado’s legal landscape includes a Taypayer Bill of Rights, which requires citizens to approve any tax increase.

Since this would technically be a tax increase, the legislators decided to go the safe route and allow voters to decide, though some government officials felt it was unnecessary.

Colorado’s 33 commercial casinos would be allowed to apply for a license that would allow them to offer both brick-and-mortar and online sports betting. All of Colorado’s casinos are located in the towns of Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek.

The state will tax sports betting revenue at 10 percent and most of that tax money will fund implementation of the state water plan. The department of revenue would act as the sports betting regulatory body. They will be overseen by the gaming control commission.

The bill was only introduced into the House just a couple weeks ago. It was passed in just two weeks, but according to the Denver Post, there was some pushback against the bill because it didn’t cap the maximum legal bet at $100. No-limit hold’em cash games in Colorado functionally act as spread limit games because of this rule.

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