Local Elected Officials Opposing SB11-233 Gaming Expansion

Local elected officials have pledged to fight a legislative attempt to allow two "super casinos" to be opened in Colorado, bypassing the election process mandated in the state constitution. One possible location for a new casino would be Aurora's Arapahoe Park and, with that possibility in mind, both the Aurora City Council and the Arapahoe County Board of Commissioners have decided to work against the measure.

The bill sparking all the controversy is SB11-233. Sponsored by two Adams County state senators, SB11-233 would authorize the owners of Arapahoe Park, Mile High Racing and Entertainment, to open two facilities with as many as 2,500 video lottery terminals in each facility. According to Wikipedia, video lottery terminals are similar to slot machines and opponents of SB11-233 say that they fall under the definition of 'slot machine' found in Article 18 of the Colorado Constitution.

"For all practical purposes, a video lottery terminal is a slot machine, " explained Commerce City Councilperson Kathy Teter, who heads up Protect Our Neighborhoods (PON), a coalition of local elected officials that is opposing SB11-233. "Racetrack owners tried to convince Colorado voters that video lottery terminals weren't slot machines back in 2003, but voters saw through the scam and overwhelmingly defeated that ballot measure."

"It's important for legislators to understand what SB 233 will mean to local taxpayers," said Aurora City Councilperson Robert Broom, a member of PON. "The casinos envisioned in SB-233 would be bigger than anything we currently have in Black Hawk, Central City or Cripple Creek. The facilities would put enormous pressure on our infrastructure and force local taxpayers to pick up the tab."

Arapahoe County Commissioner Rod Bockenfeld is also concerned that the new casinos would not be subject to the constitutional limits that restrict Colorado's mountain casinos. "The bill doesn't provide bet limits or even a minimum age for gamblers. With the state lottery overseeing these operations, we'd could see 18-year-olds able to legally play slots." The minimum age for playing The Colorado Lottery is 18, while gamblers in mountain casinos must be at least 21 years old.

Aurora City Council members and Arapahoe County commissioners will be contacting legislators to urge a 'no' vote and they expect to testify against SB11-233 Wednesday afternoon when it's scheduled to be heard in the Senate Business, Labor and Technology Committee.