A bipartisan bill that seeks to place a three-year prohibition on online or telephone purchases of lottery tickets cleared its first legislative hurdle on March 13.
Sponsors of House Bill 1142 argue that lottery sales through technological sources would hurt local businesses, especially convenience stores, who make thousands of dollars from those sales every year.
For years, online lottery sales had been banned by the Colorado Lottery Commission because the U.S. Department of Justice said those sales violated the federal Wire Act. However, the justice department dropped the prohibition in 2011.
After having previously passed the House, the bill — which is sponsored by House Minority Leader Brian DelGrosso, R-Loveland and Sens. Jeanne Nicholson, D-Black Hawk and Kevin Grantham, R-Canon City — passed the Senate Finance Committee last week and will soon be voted on by the full Senate.
