Rolling the dice.
It is Election Day 2019 and there really is only one referendum that the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the National Hockey League, the PGA, the National Collegiate Athletic Association and other sports operators care about. Colorado voters will either say yes or no to Proposition DD which would allow sports gambling in the state. Colorado voters have to decide on the issue, not state elected officials. The sports gambling bill includes a provision that 10 percent of the take on sports gambling will be taxed with that money going to Colorado public projects with the bulk of the taxable money going to state water protection. The Colorado voters have to take part in the process because of a 1992 state law, the taxpayers’ bill of rights that was enacted in Colorado because of the tax levy provision in the sports gambling bill. Colorado elected officials and those who crunch numbers in the state don’t expect much in the way of raising a lot of money from sports gambling. The officials think Colorado will get $10 million in the fiscal year 2020-2021 and somewhere between $13 and 15 million the following year. By 2021-2022, Colorado analysts think much as $150 million could be bet which is less than a two-week Super Bowl wagering period in Nevada.
It has been 18 months since the United States Supreme Court came down with a decision that legalized sports gambling. Nevada got legalized sportsbooks in 1949. New York, New Jersey, Delaware, West Virginia, Rhode Island, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Montana, Oregon, New Mexico, Arkansas, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Tennessee have sportsbooks. Sports leagues have embraced sports gambling partnerships. Sports leagues make money from professional bookmakers.
