Governor Ritter Vetoes Gambling Bill In Colorado

Lawmakers and Governor Bill Ritter in Colorado have clashed for the first time this year. The governor used his veto powers to shoot down a Bill regarding gambling in the state that was passed by lawmakers.

The Bill proposed by Senator Mark Sheffel would have required that one of the five members of the Limited Gaming Control Commission be a registered voter in one of the two counties that allows gambling. The governor opposed the Bill because of the original idea behind the Commission.

The governor claims that the Commission was founded in order to keep the gambling industry free from corruption. One way it did that was by not allowing any members of the commission to own property in Teller of Gilpin counties.

"Allowing a commission member to own property in the counties that have limited gaming creates an inherent conflict of interest or at a minimum, the appearance of a conflict," wrote Ritter before vetoing the Bill, "Having a commission member who could be in position to benefit financially from decisions made by the commission is poor public policy."

The Bill surprisingly drew large amounts of support in both the House and the Senate. The House passed the Bill 56-6, and the Senate voted unanimously in favor of the Bill, 34-0. Many lawmakers did not see the same problems with the Bill as Ritter.

"The whole concept is that when you have a board, you need to have someone in the community on it to have a concept of what's going on," said Representative Carole Murray.

April 24, 2009
Posted By Terry Goodwin
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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