The Colorado House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 26-131 on Monday by a vote of 50-13, sending the state’s most significant sports betting reform legislation to Governor Jared Polis for his signature. The bill, which cleared the Colorado General Assembly with bipartisan support, introduces a series of new operational requirements and restrictions on licensed internet sports betting operators in the state. If signed, it will take effect in August 2026.
The Colorado Division of Gaming, which sits within the state Department of Revenue and oversees licensed sportsbook operators, will be responsible for enforcement. Operators found in violation of the new restrictions face fines of up to $25,000.
The legislation prohibits operators from accepting credit card or buy-now-pay-later deposits, caps individual accounts at six deposits within any 24-hour period, and bans unsolicited push notifications and text messages designed to solicit bets or encourage additional funding. Advertising restrictions in the final text bar promotional language featuring terms such as “bonus bet” or “no sweat,” prohibit sports betting ads between 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., and ban targeting of audiences under the age of 18.
The bill’s passage follows a series of amendments that substantially narrowed its original scope. An earlier version proposed a complete ban on proposition bets across the state, but that measure was removed in the Senate Finance Committee after a fiscal estimate projected it would reduce state sports betting tax revenues by $2.4 million in fiscal year 2026-27, rising to $2.7 million by 2028-29. Colorado directs a portion of sports betting tax revenue toward water infrastructure projects, and lawmakers expressed concern that a shortfall could draw on general fund reserves.
The Sports Betting Alliance, whose members include FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, Fanatics, and bet365, testified in opposition to the bill during Senate committee hearings, arguing the restrictions would drive Colorado bettors toward unlicensed markets.
House sponsor and committee chair Rep. Steven Woodrow described the bill as the most comprehensive package of sports betting consumer protections introduced in any US state since the repeal of PASPA in 2018.
“This is not a ban on sports betting and it is not an attempt to relitigate the 2019 ballot measure that legalized it. Coloradans made that decision, and our job today isn’t to second-guess them. Our job is to make sure the product they were promised is the product they actually got.”
Colorado residents wagered more than $6 billion on sports online in 2025, a 130% increase from the market’s inception following voter approval in 2019. The state currently has 16 licensed online sportsbooks, more than any other jurisdiction in the country.
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