Colorado legislators have dismissed a bill permitting the state lottery to offer new games to raise additional funding for higher education on May 6th, 2010. The proposal comes after a similar one that would have asked state voters about the issue was also postponed due to low support.
Supporters of the bi-partisan Senate Bill 215 said that Colorado's colleges and universities have suffered during the economic crisis and that Colorado is one of the lowest states in the U.S. in terms of financial support to its higher education system.
Sen. Chris Romer (D-Denver) said that he believes that the Colorado Lottery possessed the constitutional power to create other games and that it should do so to prevent higher education in Colorado from becoming out of reach for all but the rich families.
Sen. Romer said that still have a state budget deficit of $600 million dollars which means that there will have no funding for any of their universities or colleges. He added that will probably mean a forty-fifty percent increase in tuition fee which is not acceptable.
Critics, including an organization composed of local officials called Protect Our Neighborhoods, say that Sen. Romer's goal is good but his method is not acceptable.
The group has committed to opposing the plan in the state legislature or at the ballot because to raise that amount of money being discussed about, those new games will either be video lottery terminals or video keno that will be installed in Colorado's bars and restaurants.
Centennial City Councilman Ron Weidmann said that the goal is to keep out machine-type wagering in Front Range and keep gaming where voters said they wanted it and that is in Cripple Creek, Black Hawk and Central City. Weidmann added that they do not need anymore gambling in state restaurants and bars.
[12-08]
By John Sullivan
