Online gambling

There's a widely held political consensus in Colorado, one we essentially share, that new state revenues should largely flow to one of three priorities: higher education, transportation or health care.

 

Amendment 50 would direct new funding into a segment of higher ed that typically gets short shrift - community colleges. While the amendment is flawed and had us going back and forth in weighing its merits, on balance it deserves the voters' support. It would bring more money to community colleges without hiking taxes.

 

Under Amendment 50, residents of Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek could raise betting limits in their casinos from $5 to $100; they could increase the hours casinos are open (now, they must close between 2 a.m. and 8 a.m.); and they could add roulette and/or craps to the range of games (slots, blackjack and poker) now available.

 

Community colleges would get 78 percent of the tax revenue from the new activity, with funding to each campus based on enrollment; the host cities would get 10 percent; and the host counties would get 12 percent.

 

Community colleges were hit particularly hard during the state budget's downturn of a few years ago. When funding from the legislature lags, these schools lack the endowments or research grants that four-year institutions can tap.

 

Enter Amendment 50. If the three cities embrace the $100 limit, 24-hour gambling and add craps and roulette, state analysts predict community colleges would get an extra $29 million the first year after adoption and $62 million by the fifth year.

 

That's a significant boost in funding. In the current fiscal year, community colleges received $144 million from the general fund.

 

So what's not to like about Amendment 50? Coloradans adopted limited gaming in 1990 as an avenue to prevent the economic collapse of the three mountain towns - not as a way for Vegas-style casinos to gain a foothold in the state. A $5 bet limit was also locked into the constitution, with no adjustment for inflation, so some increase is justified. Even with an inflation escalator, however, the maximum bet today would be less than $10. Amendment 50 instead seeks a twentyfold rise in the limit. A lower maximum, say $25, would have been an easier sell.

 

Higher betting limits will also boost the incentive for Indian tribes to bring off-reservation casinos to Colorado. So long as the $5 limit is in play, there's little reason for tribes to swap reservation holdings for private land near population centers as they have in other states and then build massive gambling resorts on their newly acquired property. With a limit of $100, however, all bets are off.

 

We're also concerned about oversight of the windfall to gambling towns. Denver's 7 reported this year that officials in Black Hawk spent hundreds of thousands of tax dollars refurbishing their homes and taking lavish vacations. A new gusher of revenue will provide even more temptation for these abuses.

 

Look, we're never comfortable setting funding formulas for specific public programs in the state constitution. In this case, however, the gaming industry is already in the constitution. When raising betting stakes, voters have to direct the money somewhere.

 

Fortunately, the lion's share of new funds will support a public need that's often neglected in difficult economic times. Vote yes on Amendment 50.