Former Colorado state Senator Bob Hagedorn and former state Rep. Vickie Armstrong recently submitted 136,342 signatures to the secretary of state’s office to qualify Initiative 135 for the November ballot. Initiatives require 86,105 valid signatures to qualify. The former lawmakers are leading a bipartisan effort on behalf of the ballot proposal would that generate more than 0 million annually for K-12 education by permitting up to 2,500 slot machines and 65 gaming tables at Arapahoe Park horseracing track in Aurora, owned by Rhode Island-based Twin River Worldwide Holdings. By comparison, the largest Colorado casino, Ameristar Casino Resort Black Hawk, has slightly fewer than 1,500 slot machines, according to Colorado Division of Gaming. Artists’ drawings show the 175,000 square foot casino positioned next to the track.
Under the initiative, the racetrack would pay 34 percent of proceeds from gambling to support public and charter schools, an estimated $114 million in its first fiscal year; that’s in contrast to the $104 million all of Colorado’s 38 casinos paid in statewide taxes during the fiscal year that ended July 1, 2014. Currently Colorado casinos now pay 13 percent. An upfront payment of $25 million also would be paid to the new special education fund. In addition, the initiative would allow for gaming at one future horse racetrack in Pueblo and Mesa counties under certain requirements.
Both sides in the issue together have raised more than $11 million in the initiative campaign. Mile High USA has raised more than $2 million for the issue committee Coloradans for Better Schools. Don’t Turn Racetracks Into Casinos, the issue committee formed to oppose the initiative, has received contributions of $8.8 million from five of the largest Black Hawk casinos: Pinnacle Entertainment’s Ameristar Casinos has contributed about $2.8 million, Affinity Gaming, which operates Golden Gates and Golden Gulch casinos in Black Hawk, has contributed more than $1 million and St. Louis-based Isle of Capri has raised $2.2 million to stop the Arapahoe Park expansion.
Opponents of the ballot initiative allege Twin River is using the education issue as a front to expand operations. Michele Ames, spokesperson for the issue committee of Don’t Turn Racetracks Into Casinos, said, “The majority of our spending so far has been to shore up advertising space come this fall. I think that our strongest arguments are just the facts: This is a ballot initiative written by a single Rhode Island company that wants to increase its bottom line. But you can’t dress up a Rhode Island bailout plan to look like help for Colorado’s schools. I think Coloradans will see that for what it is, and they will reject the initiative just like they did in 2003.”
In 2003, Colorado voters rejected a similar gaming expansion ballot proposal y a 4-1 margin. But Arapahoe Park spokeswoman Becky Brooks said, “I think that our country has gone through a lot in the last 10 years, and if you base any of your assertions on what happened then versus what is happening now, that’s not going to give a good bet. We have had some successes on this track. The attendance is up, and we think this is the right time to do this.”
Added Hagedorn, “You can gamble on the internet now if you know where to go and how to do it. So, it’s a different time, and I think that people whose animosity towards expansion of gaming for various reasons 20 years ago, a lot of them are no longer valid. So, let’s try it.”
Still, opponents point to what they consider Twin River’s ulterior motives, noting its Chairman John E. Taylor Jr. has said the push to expand gaming in Colorado partly is based on the company’s need to survive competition from coming Massachusetts casinos. Taylor told the Providence Journal, “Growing the business solidifies our position in Rhode Island at an important time.” He said he was “spending a fair amount of time looking at the situation” in Colorado.
Brooks acknowledged Twin River’s “motivation is twofold. The company is expanding its opportunities and when you pair that with a contribution to K-12 public education, as well as charter schools, at the tax rate of 34 percent, we thought that was a good win-win.” She added, “Colorado voters are very thoughtful, but at the same time, they’re a very open group to new and different ideas. We’ve done a lot of research to see what the public would like to see as beneficiaries of any additional revenues, and K-12 pops up at the top of the list.”
Ames, of Don’t Turn Racetracks Into Casinos, said, “Not a single one of Colorado’s 178 school districts have come out in support of this scheme. They paid to have signatures gathered because Colorado’s 36,000 teachers don’t support them.” The Colorado Education Association, the largest union of teachers in the state, said it is not taking a position on the initiative. Jane Urschel, deputy executive director of the Colorado Association of School Boards, said her organization has concerns with unpredictable funding streams. “What worries boards is an unpredictable source. I just don’t feel like the gaming is necessarily predictable,” she said.
Opponents also are concerned about local control. Ames said the initiative would not require approval from local governments regarding where the casino expansions would take place. “This ballot initiative in its own language writes around the current requirement in our Colorado constitution that would make them go to a local vote,” she said.
Ames also said although the Colorado Legislative Council estimated the racino’s economic impact for its first full year would be $114.5 million, “There’s no reason to believe this $100 million figure that they’re throwing around. They have yet to prove it,” she said. Most likely Arapahoe Park would take revenue from existing casinos, which would affect revenue the state already collects to support historic preservation, tourism promotions and gaming oversight and impacts.
The bottom line, said Eric Sondermann, an independent political analyst from Denver, is “It’s basically just a big battle between corporate interests. This is not an election where passions are going to be high among ordinary voters. This is a corporate fight all the way.”
