To fund water projects, some in Colorado bet sports gambling will pay off

Colorado has a complicated relationship with its water. Most of the state’s precipitation falls west of the continental divide, but most water users—like cities and farms—lie to the east. Once solution: pump water through massive tunnels under the Rocky Mountains to quench eastern Colorado’s thirst. That sort of trans-mountain diversion has been flowing for decades. But with a ballooning population and increasingly variable climate, eastern Colorado will need even more water in the future, requiring new infrastructure to manage it. All that will come with a hefty price tag—the state is facing a $100-million-dollar annual shortfall in implementing its 30-year water plan.

So…are you ready for some football?

New tax revenue from sports betting, if legalized in a November 5th ballot initiative, could help close that shortfall. This kind of “sin tax” is familiar to Colorado voters, who approved an initiative to legalize and tax recreational marijuana use in 2012. Supporters of the sports betting initiative, including many in the outdoor industry, say it’s necessary to ensure clean, abundant water for the state’s future. As Colorado Public Radio reports, some oppose the measure on ethical grounds or claim the proposition doesn’t specify what parts of Colorado’s Water Plan it would fund.

Many states already use forms of gambling to back environmental measures. Minnesota’s lottery system funds habitat restoration and invasive species management. And sports betting is legal in 11 states since the Supreme Court green-lighted the practice on a federal level in 2018. So the Colorado ballot initiative, if passed, wouldn’t be completely unique. But it could help narrow the state’s water funding gap—all while adding a new link in the complex web of Western water management.