Amendment 68 – Horse Racetrack Casino Gambling

Amendment 68 would allow casino gambling at Arapahoe Park, a horse racetrack in Arapahoe County. If Pueblo and Mesa Counties were to have active horse racetracks licensed for betting with at least 30 race days per year for 5 consecutive years, then one racetrack in each of those counties could also have casino gambling under this proposed amendment.

The language authorizes 2,500 slot machines per casino and an unlimited number of tables of blackjack, poker, roulette and craps. Individual casino bets would be limited to $100. The implementing language supersedes Referendum C passed by voters in 1992 requiring approval of the local electorate before allowing limited gaming.

The casino operator would have to pay the state a one-time fee of $25 million. The local government could also, after negotiation, impose a one-time impact fee and a recurring, annual impact fee. The casino would also have to pay the state 34% of its adjusted gross proceeds – the revenue from the casino minus the payouts to winners.

The money paid to the state, predicted at $114.5 million per year and not subject to constitutional revenue and spending limitations, would go into a new K-12 education fund and would not be used to replace current education funding. Currently, the state attempts to equalize funding for school districts so that districts with more local money such as the Boulder Valley School District receive less state money, but this fund would distribute dollars on a per-public-school-pupil basis.

Current state revenue from gambling in mountain towns Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek is less than $100 million. With Arapahoe Park closer to major population centers, gambling and tourism revenue would likely drop in the mountain towns with a corresponding drop in money dedicated to statewide community colleges, historic preservation and the local communities. (See Amendment 50 in 2008.) With the passage of Amendment 68, we would have higher education and K-12 education competing against each other for some of the same gambling dollars.

Like Amendment 67, this amendment would also add Section 17 to Article XVIII, titled Miscellaneous.

Recommendation: no

Aside from the fact that we never should have put gambling in our constitution to begin with, this proposed amendment would primarily benefit Rhode Island’s Twin River Casino which is positioned to open casino gambling at Arapahoe Park. The amount of money going toward education is just a drop in the bucket. (See this year’s BVSD bond issue 3A for a comparison.) It also seems likely that legislators would find a way to count the new education fund money when they budget for public schools as they reinterpreted Amendment 23 nine years after it passed so they could reduce funding increases.

Arapahoe Park is in unincorporated Arapahoe County, but the city of Aurora estimates its costs for needed improvements to the roads to the casino to be over $60 million. In order to get any impact fees from Arapahoe Park, the city would have to annex Arapahoe Park.


Website for the Yes side (Coloradans for Better Schools)
http://yesforbetterschools.com/

Website for the No side (Don’t Turn Racetracks Into Casinos)
http://www.voteno68.com/


Approved Ballot Language

Amendment 68 (CONSTITUTIONAL)
SHALL STATE TAXES BE INCREASED $114,500,000 ANNUALLY IN THE FIRST FULL FISCAL YEAR, AND BY SUCH AMOUNTS THAT ARE RAISED THEREAFTER, BY IMPOSING A NEW TAX ON AUTHORIZED HORSE RACETRACKS' ADJUSTED GROSS PROCEEDS FROM LIMITED GAMING TO INCREASE STATEWIDE FUNDING FOR K-12 EDUCATION, AND, IN CONNECTION THEREWITH, AMENDING THE COLORADO CONSTITUTION TO PERMIT LIMITED GAMING IN ADDITION TO PRE-EXISTING PARI-MUTUEL WAGERING AT ONE QUALIFIED HORSE RACETRACK IN EACH OF THE COUNTIES OF ARAPAHOE, MESA, AND PUEBLO; AUTHORIZING HOST COMMUNITIES TO IMPOSE IMPACT FEES ON HORSE RACETRACKS AUTHORIZED TO CONDUCT LIMITED GAMING; ALLOWING ALL RESULTING REVENUE TO BE COLLECTED AND SPENT NOTWITHSTANDING ANY LIMITATIONS PROVIDED BY LAW; AND ALLOCATING THE RESULTING TAX REVENUES TO A FUND TO BE DISTRIBUTED TO SCHOOL DISTRICTS AND THE CHARTER SCHOOL INSTITUTE FOR K-12 EDUCATION?
- YES/FOR
- NO/AGAINST


See the text of the measure, as filed with the Secretary of State, to add Section 17 to Article XVIII of the Colorado Constitution:
http://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/Initiatives/titleBoard/filings/2013-2014/135Final.pdf