A new bipartisan bill filed in Colorado would implement several new measures on the state’s sports betting market, including a blanket ban on prop wagers and restrictions on how licensed sportsbooks can advertise.
Senate Bill 131, filed on Wednesday, is a wide-ranging responsible gambling-focused piece of legislation that aims to implement more player protection safeguards and several limitations on how operators can conduct business. It has one Democrat and one Republican sponsor attached for each of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The bill has been referred to the Senate Finance Committee for initial discussion.
Bill takes a wide-angle approach to prop bets
Chief among the provisions is a proposal to drastically reduce the betting markets that Colorado sportsbooks can offer.
Player prop betting remains under intense scrutiny amid numerous cases of alleged or confirmed manipulation of performances by both pro and college athletes, including Jontay Porter’s lifetime ban from the NBA, the federal investigation into Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luiz Ortiz over alleged pitch-rigging, and several college basketball scandals in the NCAA.
However, the Colorado bill would not only ban player-specific props. The legislation defines a proposition bet as one that is made on an individual athlete’s performance, a specific officiating decision, a penalty, an injury, “or any outcome other than the final result or score” of a sporting event.
The ban would apply to all such bets, whether they are placed before the start of a game or during the game.
Credit card use and account limiting in the spotlight
The bill also addresses several player protection measures.
It would ban the use of credit cards for sports betting account funding, limit the number of deposits bettors can make in a 24-hour period to five, and ban push notifications or text messages that prompt users to place bets.
Numerous states already do not allow credit card funding, and DraftKings and FanDuel have both blocked credit cards as a method of payment across the U.S. Meanwhile, the idea of banning push notifications that encourage users to bet has been floated in other states, including a recently filed bill in New Jersey.
Colorado sportsbooks would also be prohibited from “limiting the size and frequency of deposits or bets because an individual obtains a financial benefit as a result of placing the bet or due to the individual’s betting activities,” unless the user’s activity was identified as either suspicious betting or an indication of a gambling disorder.
The practice of limiting players has been a hot-button topic in some other states, such as Massachusetts.
No daytime or in-game sports betting ads
SB 26-131 also looks to curb sports betting adverts in Colorado.
Sportsbooks would be banned from broadcasting ads or promotions for their platforms between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m., a measure the bill said is partly intended to stop children from being exposed to gambling advertising. The ban, which specifically refers to broadcast advertising rather than other channels like social media, would also apply during live broadcasts of sporting events.
“Children are more likely to watch television during daytime hours, and sporting events draw a large mixed-age audience,” reads a note in the bill’s text. “Advertising during daytime and live sporting events is therefore difficult to avoid for sports fans, including minors and adults at an elevated risk.”
In addition, sports betting adverts would not be able to include phrasing like “bonus bet” or “no sweat” or other similar terms.
Time to slow it down, says bill sponsor
Colorado has allowed licensed online sportsbooks to do business in the state since 2020, but one of the bill’s sponsors told local media this week that lawmakers were perhaps not prepared for some of the consequences that would follow.
“Frankly, the more I looked into it the more I became really, really alarmed by everything that has happened as a consequence of legalized sports betting and, in my view, placing very few restrictions on it,” Sen. Matt Ball, told the Denver Post. “We just didn’t know what we didn’t know. It’s just exploded and it’s happened very fast. I think we can see the harm that’s happened very clearly.”
