Editor’s Note: Listen to this hearing live mid-morning (the committee meets after 9 a.m. House floor session adjourns) by clicking here.
By Don Knox, STATE BILL COLORADO
Gambling projects would be prohibited from being included in “regional tourism projects” under a bill being considered today by the Colorado Senate’s Business Labor & Technology Committee.
SB10-035, sponsored by Sen. Mark Scheffel, R-Colorado Springs, closes a perceived loophole created when the so-called regional tourism projects bill won approval and was signed by Gov. Bill Ritter in 2009.
The bill prohibits any proposed regional tourism project from including a facility that would offer, make available, or facilitate gambling-related activities. Gambling-related activities include betting, wagering, or payments made on or in connection with one or more games that qualify as gambling or limited gaming as defined by law.
Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton, who sponsored the 2009 legislation, is the House sponsor on this bill. His backing — as well as his chairmanship of the House business committee — gives the measure a strong chance of passing.
Pueblo is considering creating a regional tourism project, and the area around Denver International Airport has been identified as a possible future home for a speedway. Both projects, if undertaken, would benefit from tax-increment financing enabled under the 2009 legislation.
