COLORADO, USA — The state's lottery and gaming division wants to become part of the solution to problem gambling by bringing awareness to the Colorado State Capitol for the first time.
Groups from the Colorado Lottery, Colorado Division of Gaming and others filled the Capitol rotunda on Wednesday to explain to lawmakers what resources they can provide to people who face problem gambling and in what ways they promote responsible play.
The proactive action comes during Problem Gambling Awareness Month, which happens every March.
This is the first time the groups brought their initiative to the Capitol.
“We aren't sponsoring a bill, we don't have any specific legislation,” Seaver said. “It's more about just when problem gambling is discussed, whether it's something that we bring up or our partners bring up, that they know what we are talking about.”
Seaver said there are more ways than ever for people to bet. To keep up, the Colorado Lottery hired a new role as a full-time player health manager.
“I think the most exciting thing for us was we hired a full-time player health manager. It’s always been a part of our organization throughout the different disciplines to focus on responsibility, but now we have a full-time staff person who comes to us from the National Council on Problem Gambling,” Seaver said. “So they have an extensive, rich background on what they’re doing. We realized for the lottery to go to the next step, we needed to have our own in-house professional expert.”
The Colorado Lottery wants to be part of the solution to problem gambling.
“We are trying to be part of the solution, we recognize we are part of the gambling environment in Colorado, so we want to do our part in making sure people are aware of the resources,” Seaver said.
“Just in September, we had 100 people register to be on our self-exclusion list,” said Christopher Schroder, the director of the Colorado Division of Gaming. “Altogether, we have over 800 on our self-exclusion list. When people sign up for that list they can make sure they exclude themselves from all forms of gaming, whether that’s the casinos, in person, or online at the sports wagering operators.”
The world of gambling changed in Colorado when sports betting started in 2020. Right now, that means bets on March Madness are in full swing.
“We are definitely seeing an increase in sports betting here year-over-year, and month-over-month,” Schroder said.
In March 2023, college basketball made up almost 20% of all sports bets in the state. Coloradans bet almost $95M and were paid out nearly $90M.