Amendment 77: Allow residents of Central City, Black Hawk City, and Cripple Creek City to vote whether to increase the single-bet limit and include new game types

Amendment 77

BACKGROUND: Central City, Black Hawk City, and Cripple Creek City, according to Ballotpedia, are the only cities in Colorado in which gambling is legal. Currently, there is a limit of $100 on the amount that can be bet in a single bet. In addition, the games allowed in Colorado gambling currently are slot machines, black jack, poker, roulette, and craps. The tax revenue from gambling in Colorado currently goes to funding community colleges.

WHAT A VOTE “YES” MEANS: Voting YES would make it so that residents can vote to establish no limit on the amount that can be bet in a single bet and so that they could also vote to increase the amount of different games that are legal in Colorado gambling (Ballotpedia). In addition, the funding given to community colleges from gambling tax revenue would also go to programs that help with student retention and promote finishing higher education (Ballotpedia).

EXPLANATION: If there is no limit, the gambling industries would do better economically and thus be able to contribute more to Colorado’s economy as a whole (Ballotpedia).

“I support allowing galmbers to make their own decisions as to how much money they bet while gambling because they may choose how to spend the money that they earn,” Tyler Stahl ‘21 said.

WHAT A VOTE “NO” MEANS: Voting NO would make it so that there wouldn’t be able to be an election for residents of these cities to increase the maximum amount able to be bet on in a single bet and so that they could not increase the number of games that is legal in Colorado gambling (Ballotpedia).

EXPLANATION: If there is no limit as to single-bet amounts and if the amount of legal gambling games is increased, it could lead to an increase in problematic gambling and negatively impact the communities of these cities (Ballotpedia).