Colorado puts new limits on sports betting as wagers soar
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A new state law imposing a sweeping set of restrictions on Colorado's booming sports betting industry takes effect Wednesday.
Why it matters: Colorado is trying to curb the harms of a soaring sports betting industry while increasingly relying on the tax revenue it generates to fund water conservation projects.
By the numbers: Coloradans wagered a record $6.4 billion in the last fiscal year, continuing the industry's rapid growth since voters legalized sports betting in 2020.
- Colorado has collected more than $154 million in sports betting taxes since then, most of it funding water projects, the Denver Post reports.
The big picture: The industry's growth has brought mounting concerns about its broader effects, from the integrity of sports to rising gambling addiction.
- A Denver Post investigation found mental health experts warning that sports betting addiction could be the state's next major public health crisis.
- Calls to gambling helplines have soared in Colorado, and roughly 16% of local gamblers may be at risk of problematic wagering, Axios Denver reported earlier this year.
The latest: The bipartisan law limits how sportsbooks can collect money and market to customers.
- It prohibits credit card deposits, limits customers to six deposits per gaming day and bans push notifications soliciting bets or deposits.
- It also restricts advertising aimed at people younger than 21 and, starting in 2028, requires sportsbooks to submit annual transactional data to state regulators.
State of play: Sportsbooks are already alerting customers to the changes. FanDuel, one of the nation's largest online gambling companies, told Colorado customers Tuesday that the new restrictions were "now in effect."
The other side: Sports betting has become a lucrative money source for the state.
- Tax revenue has helped pay for irrigation systems, reservoirs and water research — an increasingly valuable funding stream as Colorado grapples with record drought and growing pressure on its water supplies.
- The new law seeks to protect that funding by requiring that annual transfers to the state's Water Plan Implementation Cash Fund be at least as large as the previous year's.
What we're watching: Whether Colorado can curb the harms of sports betting without cutting into a revenue stream it's come to increasingly rely on.