Summary#

Senate Bill 26-163, titled Regulation of Gaming & Sports Betting, amends Colorado laws on gaming, sports betting and horse racing. It expands some regulatory powers and licensing rules, and adds voluntary self-exclusion from sports betting; its stated goal is to regulate gambling activities in the state. The bill is signed into law, with an effective date of August 12, 2026, unless a referendum petition delays it.

• The Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission may delegate licensing duties under all of Article 30 to the Division of Gaming, rather than only duties under Part 5.
• Gaming investigators and supervisors gain authority to inspect, examine, investigate, hold or impound premises anywhere in Colorado in specified circumstances, including suspected unlicensed gaming or sports betting and premises with related equipment or records.
• The Division of Gaming must let people request exclusion from sports betting through written, electronic or telephone requests. Their identifying information is confidential.
• The bill revises horse-racing licensing definitions and categories, including which business owners and workers are applicants or require occupational licenses. It also expands the defined period of a race meet to include certain pre-race activity and seven days after live racing.
• The Racing Commission must arrange fingerprint-based criminal-history checks for certain racing-license applicants. The applicant pays the record-check cost.

What it means for you#

• People who want to stop betting: You may request exclusion from sports betting in Colorado. The bill requires the Division to accept requests in writing, electronically or by phone, and makes your identifying information confidential. It does not set out how long exclusion lasts or how requests are handled after receipt.
• Gaming businesses and premises: Investigators and supervisors have broader stated authority to inspect, examine, investigate, hold or impound premises in the listed circumstances. The bill does not set out an application or review process for these actions.
• Horse-racing businesses and workers: The bill defines major and minor business licences and names roles requiring key, support or temporary registration occupational licences. A temporary registration licence is valid for no more than 90 days. The bill also defines a business owner as someone who owns more than 5% of a business applying for a business licence.
• People working for more than one employer at a race meet: The bill expands the period that counts as a race meet. State law excludes people who work for more than one employer at a race meet from the definition of “employee” for certain Title 8 articles. The bill could therefore affect when that exclusion applies; it does not explain the effect in particular cases.
• People who use public assistance benefits: The bill updates references to horse-racing terms in existing rules about cash access at ATMs in gaming and racing locations. It does not remove the stated restriction on cash access at those locations.

Money#

No publicly available information on the bill’s total public cost or savings.

• Applicants pay the actual cost of their fingerprint-based criminal-history record check.
• The bill requires the Division of Gaming to include sports-betting self-exclusion in its program, but provides no staffing or cost estimate.
• No estimate is given for the cost of expanded inspection authority or revised racing-licensing work.

What is unclear#

• The supplied text does not clearly show how the provision on game approvals works. The title refers to optional wagers and minor changes to certain table games, but the bill text provided does not clearly set out the director’s approval powers or their limits.
• The text does not say how sports-betting self-exclusion requests are processed, how long exclusion lasts, or what steps a person can take to end it.
• It does not set out detailed procedures or oversight for the expanded inspection powers.
• The parent Acts were not supplied, so the full current-law context and interaction with existing rules could not be verified.
• If a referendum petition is filed, the bill takes effect only if voters approve it at the November 2026 general election; otherwise, the stated effective date is August 12, 2026.

Case for#

• The bill appears intended to give gaming regulators more flexibility to assign licensing work and inspect places where unlicensed gambling may be occurring.
• Voluntary sports-betting exclusion gives people who want to stop betting a formal way to ask the Division to block their participation, while keeping their identifying information confidential.
• Clearer racing-license categories and fingerprint checks could help regulators identify who must be licensed and check applicants’ criminal histories.

Case against#

• The inspection authority covers premises where an investigator or supervisor suspects unlicensed gambling, and records related “in any way” to gaming or sports betting. The bill does not explain the safeguards or review process for using these powers.
• The bill assigns duties and expands authority without giving a total cost estimate or specifying staffing needs.
• Horse-racing licence categories and the expanded race-meet period may affect businesses and workers, but the bill does not explain how regulators will apply the revised definitions in individual cases.
• The table-game approval change is difficult to assess from the supplied text because its operative details are unclear.