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The state Lottery Commission voted Wednesday to permit credit card purchases of lottery tickets and to begin selling tickets directly to consumers.
The decision may trigger a conflict with at least 25 members of the General Assembly, including most of its leadership.
In a strongly worded letter, those lawmakers questioned the commission’s authority to make these rule changes. They urged the commission to present them to the legislature for consideration during the 2026 session.
The lottery commission spent more than an hour in executive session receiving legal advice on the lawmakers’ letter, discussing public comments, and the challenge to the commission’s authority.
Most of the rule changes were cleanup or removal of duplicative wording.
But the rules change that added credit cards and the lottery’s direct sales drew the most objections, both from lawmakers and retailers that have sold lottery tickets since the state started offering games in 1989.
The credit card rule does not affect the commission retailers earn from selling lottery tickets. However, because retailers typically pay around 4% in credit card processing fees, those fees could significantly decrease their commission.
The Colorado Wyoming Petroleum Marketers Association, in a comment letter to the lottery commission, said that using credit cards is not mandatory and that the loss of commission could prompt retailers to stop accepting them. Another retail group, Union Pacific, raised some of the same objections.
Grier Bailey, representing the Colorado-Wyoming retailers, asked the commission to reject the change to the credit card rules.
Lawmakers also objected to the use of credit cards, citing concerns over gambling addictions and players running up credit card debts.
The vote on credit cards wasn’t unanimous. Commissioner Christian Reece was the lone objector on the five-member board. She noted that buying lottery tickets with credit cards would incur a cash advance charge rather than being counted as a regular purchase, and that comes with higher fees. She also cited a 2023 study by the federal Consumer Protection Financial Bureau that said most consumers are unaware of the costs associated with gambling. The study found that allowing credit cards also led to more debt.
Commission attorney Tom Campbell said that limiting the use of credit cards won’t stop someone from taking a cash advance from an ATM to purchase lottery tickets.
Regarding concerns about problem gambling, Commissioner Bill Clayton said credit card usage could be “tracked” and that the commission could set a limit, though he did not define what that would be. He also noted the lottery has a full-time employee who deals with problem gambling.
That prompted Reece to ask how a limit would work. She noted that one state set a limit of $700 per week on a credit card, but a person with more than one card could spend $700 per week on each.
“That could bankrupt some families that are struggling,” Reece said.
Clayton also pointed out that young people don’t carry cash, and that’s a missing market and opportunity for lottery sales.
Commission Chair Stan Podolski, advocating for credit card sales, said it will give the lottery an opportunity for advancement. “I don’t think we can legislate through our rulemaking whether people are responsible or not, and that they will find other ways” to purchase lottery tickets.
The other rule, which drew objections to allowing the lottery to sell directly to consumers, was approved unanimously. Under that rule, the lottery can sell tickets online, including through a mobile app.
The retailers pointed out that this would put them in competition with the government for lottery sales.
Commissioners noted that no evidence or research shows that selling directly to consumers impacts retail sales.
Campbell told the commission there are plenty of examples that show direct sales complement retail sales, not replace them. He said that seven states showed increased brick-and-mortar sales when direct sales were allowed.
Reece noted she’d received public feedback on the rule and that there were concerns over fairness and whether the chances of winning would be any different.
“We would be foolish to undergo a plan of action that would hurt our brick and mortar partners,” noted Clayton.
Lottery Director Tom Seaver said the staff has already spent hundreds of hours researching best practices and that, because of other states’ experiences, Colorado doesn’t have to start from scratch.
The rest of the rules changes passed unanimously, including one that will eliminate Lotto for Life, which will go away in all states on Feb. 21, 2026. That will be replaced by a new game, Millionaire for Life.
What’s next? The rules went into effect on Thursday.
The rules will be incorporated into the General Assembly’s 2026 rule review bill, one avenue for lawmakers to voice their concerns about the changes.
Meghan Dougherty, the lottery’s communications director, told Colorado Politics that while the deadline for rules submitted for the rule review bill was Nov. 1, the lottery is submitting an “Out of Cycle Review request” so that the rules will be included in the rule review bill.
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