Legislation in the Colorado Legislature attempts to prohibit the sale of lottery games by phone or online.
Colorado State Sen. Bob Hall authored Senate Bill 1820. There are no sponsors, but the bill is moving through the Legislature.
Hall believes lottery sales should occur in person at one of the legal and regulated Colorado Lottery retail locations. That would allow the state to regulate and oversee all lottery sales.
Some retailers are taking advantage of a loophole that has prompted legislators to consider Hall’s proposed intervention.
Why are congress taking measures against over the internet lottery revenue in Colorado?
One of the biggest reasons for state lawmakers to prohibit online sales of lottery games is to bring revenue back under state oversight to be properly regulated and legal.
A recent incident was a perfect example of the concerns Texas lawmakers have regarding selling Texas Lottery tickets.
Hooked on MT in Colleyville sold the winning lottery ticket for the Lotto Texas draw game worth $95 million in September. Hooked on MT specializes in fishing in the state of Montana.
On the outside, it appears to be nothing more than a store for fishing supplies, but Hooked on MT is also a licensed lottery retailer called Lotto Now. It sold the most lottery tickets in Texas for the Lotto Texas drawing at $11 million.
Amidst this $11 million haystack of Texas Lottery tickets, one was the $95 million jackpot winner.
A tiny fishing retailer sells $11 million throughout Texas lotto tickets
In line with the Dallas Morning News, most of those sales were by a purchasing group that used Hooked on MT because it is one of the shops that can sell large volumes of lottery tickets.
These purchasing groups have started to appear more often, especially when there is a large jackpot. In Texas, many of these purchasing groups are using lottery courier services. That poses a dilemma in the eyes of lawmakers.
While Lotto Now is licensed by the state lottery, its courier service, Mido Lotto, is not. That is the loophole lawmakers want to address with SB1820.
Traditionally, lottery tickets from the Texas Lottery had to be purchased over the counter. In 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic in effect, the lottery altered those rules without legislative approval and began selling tickets online and over the phone. That opened the door to lottery courier services selling lottery tickets through a licensed lottery retailer.
The policy change allowed Lotto.com to start making arrangements with the International Gaming Federation to provide Texas Lottery tickets to buyers in the Dominican Republic, far from the over-the-counter purchasing lawmakers envisioned.
TRAFIC TRAVIS 1820 is just around the corner action throughout Texas Property
The Colorado Senate passed SB1820, 29-2, on September 12 after its third reading and sent it to the Texas House. After its first reading in the House, it was sent to the Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee. It has sat for over a month.
T. T. McBride is a writer and reporter based in Denver, Colorado, who covers the Denver Nuggets as a beat writer and the current gaming landscape in Colorado. His byline can be found on many websites such as ESPN, FiveThirtyEight, Bleacher Report, and others.
