Colorado sports gambling bill aimed at preventing bets from leading to bankruptcies

Four years after placing his last bet, a Coloradan is on a mission to prevent others from placing their first bet.

Using his podcast, One Day At A Time Gambling Awareness (ODAAT) Rob Minnick is sounding an alarm about an industry that he says is an expert at getting people hooked. 

"They know everything about you, the gambling industry," Minnick told CBS Colorado. "They send the perfect offer at the perfect time, the perfect amount, the perfect game. It's like they know you better than you know yourself."

Minnick and Lawrence Funderburke, a former NBA player, are among those supporting a bill at the Colorado State Capitol that would put guardrails around online sports betting in Colorado.

The industry generated nearly $37 million in 2025 in tax revenue in Colorado, with most of that money going to critical water projects.

But it has also led to more gambling addiction, especially among young men. Studies have also linked it to increased bankruptcies, domestic violence and suicides.

Funderburke told CBS Colorado a close friend took his own life after gambling away his life savings.

"Wife didn't have any insurance, left his kids destitute; that's a terrible legacy," Funderburke said. 

A bill sponsored by state Sens. Matt Ball (Col-D) and Byron Pelton (Col-R) would bar players from using credit cards to place bets and require apps to cut players off after they've made six cash deposits in one day.

"People with gambling addictions often do what's called 'chasing losses,'" Ball told CBS Colorado. "You set a budget for the day; you spend $100; you lose it, so you deposit $200, then $400, and, pretty soon, you've basically bargained away your whole paycheck."

Ball says gamblers placed more than $6 billion in bets last year in Colorado. 

"The problem with sports betting apps is they've really evolved to become a casino in your pocket," Ball continued. 

The bill would also ban apps from sending push notifications to players phones. Minnick says it's a start.

"I think anything that's moving in the right direction at this point is more than we've had as the gambling addiction community," Funderburke said. 

The bill also bars sports betting companies from marketing to Coloradans under the age of 21 or advertising on shows where most of the audience is underage.

A spokesperson for the gaming industry says the companies already do much of what the bill requires. They say most of them bar the use of credit cards, and the limits on advertising are part of the industry's code of conduct. The spokesperson also said companies are required to include resources for problem gamblers with all ads and push notifications.

The bill initially would have banned so-called prop bets, which allow gamblers to bet on the minutia of the game, like how many points an individual player scores for example. Fiscal analysts said eliminating prop bets would cost the state at least $2.5 million a year, so sponsors removed the provision.

The bill passed the Colorado Senate and will now be heard in the Colorado House.