Bill may bring video gambling to Colorado track
There is now only one horse-racing track in the state, Mile High Racing & Entertainment in Arapahoe County.
Bill Ray, a spokesman for the effort to get the bill passed, acknowledged that the bill doesn’t guarantee more racetracks will open, including on the Western Slope, but it will help encourage some to do so.
Ray denied that the bill is intended only to help increase revenue solely for the Arapahoe County track, adding its owners do hope to install the slot-like machines on-site despite opposition from track neighbors.
Allowing video-lottery-terminal casinos already has drawn opposition from the state’s three casino-gambling towns.
The Colorado Gaming Association fought a similar effort last year and said it will do so again.
Coram, however, said he’s confident the bill will pass. He said there’s no guarantee a racetrack will open in the region, but he said it is something the Montrose Economic Development Council is trying to get.
“The bill will help horse racing because the horsemen will make money from this,” Coram said. “This gives us the road map to a horse track on the Western Slope. I’ve actually got people who are interested in doing that. This provides some revenue while that’s being constructed.”
Coram said he hopes to garner support from higher-education advocates because the bill calls for putting some of the tax revenue from the video lottery machines toward college scholarships.
Proponents of the measure, HB1280, say it will generate up to $45 million in tax revenue annually for the state.
Because licenses for the new video-gambling houses would be overseen by the Colorado Lottery Commission, other revenue also would go to state parks, Great Outdoors Colorado and local communities that share in Lottery proceeds, Ray said.
