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Colorado Amendment 33, Video Lottery Program Initiative (2003)
| Colorado Amendment 33 | |
|---|---|
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| Election date |
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| Topic Environment and Gambling policy |
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| Status |
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| Type Initiated constitutional amendment |
Origin |
Colorado Amendment 33 was on the ballot as an initiated constitutional amendment in Colorado on November 4, 2003. It was defeated.
A “yes” vote supported requiring the creation of a state-sponsored video lottery program and establish the distribution of funds from such program. |
A “no” vote opposed requiring the creation of a state-sponsored video lottery program and establish the distribution of funds from such program. |
Election results
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Colorado Amendment 33 |
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| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
| Yes | 180,959 | 19.09% | ||
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766,893 | 80.91% | ||
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title for Amendment 33 was as follows:
| “ | An amendment to the Colorado Constitution concerning the generation of additional state revenues through the authorization of video lottery terminals, and, in connection therewith, directing the lottery commission to allow video lottery terminals at designated racetrack locations and limited gaming establishments; after the allocation of net proceeds from video lottery terminals to the Great Outdoors Colorado Program, allocating up to $25 million of such net proceeds in a fiscal year to an existing fund to promote tourism in Colorado; imposing a one-time $500 license fee on each video lottery terminal and allocating such license fees to the tourism promotion fund; exempting net proceeds and license fees from video lottery terminals from all restrictions on spending, revenues, and appropriations; and repealing this measure on July 1, 2019. | ” |
Full Text
The full text of this measure is available here.
Path to the ballot
In Colorado, proponents needed to collect a number of signatures for an initiated constitutional amendment.
See also
External links
Footnotes
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State of Colorado Denver (capital) |
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Noteworthy events
One of the main advocates for Initiative 33 was Wembley USA, a subsidiary of a London-based gaming company. The American entity owned racetracks in Colorado and Rhode Island. Two of its executives had been indicted on bribery charges. The alleged scheme involved slot machines at a dog racing track the company owned in its East Coast operation. The indictment also referred to unidentified co-conspirators in the United Kingdom.[1][2][3]
The chairman of a group opposing the ballot measure said:
| “ | We have called this campaign one big lie. Now it appears that the company not only has been lying but may be engaged in illegal activity. The sponsors of this issue here in Colorado need to re-evaluate whether they should be asking Colorado to alter the state constitution on behalf of the company facing such enormous business and legal turmoil.[4] | ” |
| —John Dill[1] | ||
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- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Channel 7 News: "Racing Firm Behind Amendment 33 Indicted," September 11, 2003 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "Ch7" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Fort Collins Coloradoan, "Video lottery amendment divides gambling industry," accessed October 22, 2015
- ↑ [http://www.craigdailypress.com/news/2003/nov/04/gambling_initiative_to/ Craig Daily Press, " Gambling initiative to fund tourism shot down," November 4, 2003]
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
