Some sports bettors in the Centennial State may soon have to tweak their wagering ways, as legislation passed on Wednesday by Colorado lawmakers will put several additional consumer protections in place.
- Colorado lawmakers approved a bill adding new sports betting protections, including a ban on credit card deposits and a limit of six deposits per day.
- The legislation would also stop sportsbooks from sending promotional texts or push notifications and restrict ads aimed at underage bettors.
- Supporters say the bill strengthens consumer protections, which could slightly reduce state tax revenue from sports betting.
Senate Bill 131 was approved by the Colorado State Senate on a 20-15 vote.
The legislation, which now heads to Democratic Gov. Jared Polis’ desk for a possible signature, would prohibit Colorado's online sports betting licensees from accepting more than six separate deposits from a player in a day. Credit card deposits would be banned completely by the bill.
It would also bar online sportsbook operators from sending push notifications or text messages to try to get bettors to wager or deposit more. Bookmakers and their marketing affiliates would be prohibited from targeting underage bettors with their advertising efforts as well.
Round of applause
S.B. 131 underwent some tweaking during its legislative passage, but backers (such as the Campaign for Fairer Gambling) say its protections are needed and welcome.
“We applaud the Senate and the leadership of bill sponsors Sens. Matt Ball and Byron Pelton and Reps. Dan Woog and Steven Woodrow for championing this precedent-setting legislation,” responsible gambling consultant Brianne Doura-Schawohl said in a statement. “It is heartening to see the Colorado legislature prioritize the well-being of its constituents with these revolutionary consumer protections. We strongly urge Gov. Jared Polis to sign this bill, which will establish Colorado as a national leader in sports betting protections.”
Whether Polis will sign the bill remains to be seen. Nevertheless, the efforts of Colorado lawmakers are another sign of the ongoing interest from state lawmakers in tinkering with and tightening restrictions on online sportsbook operators.
That interest comes amid the rise of prediction markets and their offering of sports-related event contracts for trading. The federally regulated exchanges continue to try to skirt state-level regulation and taxation, which has put them in the crosshairs of state gambling regulators and lawmakers seeking to emphasize the consumer protections of their locally authorized gambling operators.
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Everybody's doing it
Colorado’s new restrictions would come with a small cost to the state. There would be a small tax revenue loss of approximately $2 million combined over the next three fiscal years, according to a May 7 fiscal note.
That, however, is far less significant than what the originally envisioned bill would have done, which would have been to also ban all prop bets. The anti-prop provision was ultimately removed from the finished product.
The tax revenue projected to be lost would be mostly due to the ban on credit card deposits. However, major online sportsbook operators like DraftKings and FanDuel have already been prohibiting credit card usage on their own, so the fiscal hit will be even more minimized.
“Because the use of credit cards in sports betting is already banned for the majority of the sports betting market … the fiscal note assumes the ban will only result in less wagers by individuals with a gambling problem, which are assumed to account for 1% of wagers based on market research,” the May 7 report said. “The decrease in wagers is expected to proportionally decrease the amount of payments to players and to revenue collected by the Division of Gaming.”
