Prohibition on prop bets stripped from Colorado problem gambling bill
Colorado lawmakers removed a ban on proposition bets from Senate Bill 131 to preserve revenue and improve passage odds, while keeping other addiction-fighting measures.Summary
Colorado legislators stripped a proposed ban on proposition (prop) bets from Senate Bill 131, a bipartisan measure intended to curb problem gambling. Introduced after concerns about rising addiction following the legalization of online sports betting in May 2020, the bill originally sought to prohibit wagers on individual athletes’ performances. Sponsors, including Sen. Matt Ball, removed the prohibition under pressure from the gambling industry and fiscal concerns, noting that eliminating prop bets could reduce annual state revenue by over $2 million. Prop bets are highly popular with gamblers and lucrative for sportsbooks, but public health advocates and lawmakers warn they can accelerate compulsive gambling and threaten game integrity. The bill retains measures to limit addiction risks, such as barring credit card use on betting apps, restricting deposits, curtailing advertising, banning push notifications, and requiring sportsbooks to share gambler-demographic data with the state. Supporters say the weakened bill remains among the strongest in the nation and is expected to reach the Senate floor, alongside separate gambling-regulation bills addressing online lottery games and oversight restructuring.
(Source：Boulder Daily Camera)