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A piece of legislation to eliminate prop betting in Colorado has cleared its first hurdle.
SB 26-131, a bipartisan bill with sponsors in both chambers of the state legislature, advanced through the Senate Finance Committee last week and now moves to the Senate Appropriations Committee for evaluation. Should it survive that stop, it will head to the full Senate for a vote.
The Sports Betting Protections Bill includes several provisions that would impact gambling for Coloradoans, the most significant being an outright ban on prop betting. Drafted in response to concerns over gambling addiction, especially among young adults, the legislation would radically change the state’s sports betting landscape if signed into law.
Jeff Hunt, former director of the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University, said mobile sports betting lacks appropriate regulation and harms young people.
“Right now, we’ve effectively placed a casino in every young man’s pocket without adequate safeguards,” Hunt said.
Colorado legalized online sports betting in 2019 via a ballot measure, and mobile apps launched in the state the following May.
Rewriting the rules for mobile wagering
Aside from the ban on prop bets, SB 26-131 contains key provisions that would overhaul Colorado online sports betting. The proposed legislation would outlaw credit cards as a deposit source, limit users to five deposits within 24 hours, and ban push notifications that encourage wagers.
It would also tighten advertising restrictions, limiting sports betting ads during the day and throughout live game broadcasts.
Speaking on the push notifications ban, bill sponsor Sen. Dylan Roberts compared the alerts to constant temptation.
“You’re talking about people who are addicts, who are not going to turn that feature off,” Roberts said in a Legal Sports Report news post. “It’s like having someone constantly offering you a drink if you’re addicted to alcohol.”
Revenue vs. reform: The industry response
Sports betting operators are strongly against the proposed legislation, arguing that a ban on prop bets will fuel black-market sportsbooks and rob the state of tax revenue used for the water conservation fund.
Since sports betting launched in the state in 2020, Colorado has received more than $100 million for the initiative.
“This is a genuine growing industry, generating meaningful tax revenue for the state,” said Jennifer Anderson of FanDuel. Anderson cautioned that the bill could cause “significant unintended harm.”
The final countdown for SB 26-131
As SB 26-131 moves to the Senate Appropriations Committee, lawmakers must now weigh the fiscal impact against growing public health concerns. If the bill clears this final hurdle, it faces a decisive showdown on the Senate floor before moving to the House.
