A group of state legislators are moving to ban online lottery ticket sales in the midst of the Colorado Lottery Commission’s plans to launch this offering by next year.
SB26-117 has been launched to the Senate of the Colorado General Assembly, sponsored by four state senators – Jeff Bridges, Judy Amabile, Javier Mabrey and Matt Soper.
If approved, the bill will prevent the Colorado Lottery Commission from pressing ahead with its ambitions to launch online lottery sales by 2027 – something that is being embraced by various other states.
For example, the North Dakota Lottery initiated an upgrade of its online lottery operations in partnership with Scientific Games earlier this month, while Louisiana and Indiana also looked to join the rush with legislation.
In the latter case, the push for an Indiana online lottery fell flat, however. The bill fell through with its main sponsor, a member of the House of Representatives, attributing it to a lack of support in the house.
In Colorado, it’s not just online lottery that the Lottery Commission is pushing for, however. When it announced that it aimed to launch an online lottery proposition back in November 2025, it also outlined plans to allow credit card purchases.
State legislators see problems with both. Local media reported that Representative Bridges sees the launch of online scratch tickets in particular as essentially iGaming, which he argues ‘the state should not be participating’ and ‘shouldn’t be pushing it with more than $10m in advertising’.
“This is iGaming sponsored by the state to the benefit of the state at a time when Coloradans can’t afford to live here,” Bridges said, as quoted by online media outlet Governing.
In the summary of the bill, the legislation is described as: “The bill reinstates the prohibition on the lottery or any licensed lottery retailer from selling lottery tickets or instant scratch game tickets on a credit or other noncash basis and requires the lottery to sell such tickets for cash only, including checks, money orders, and debit cards.
“The bill also prohibits the online sale of any lottery ticket or instant scratch game ticket, regardless of payment method. The bill requires the lottery commission to adopt rules implementing the bill.”
The legislators’ push against online lottery puts them against the wishes of state Governor Jared Polis, whose administration believes that allowing online lottery sales and credit card purchases will greatly boost state revenues, particularly to support environmental causes.