Back in November, legislators told the Colorado Lottery Commission to hold off on rules that would allow, for the first time, purchases of lottery products with credit cards.

The commission went ahead anyway and approved those changes.

And now lawmakers have responded with Senate Bill 117, introduced on Thursday, that would limit the purchase of lottery products to cash.

The lottery commission approved the rules on Nov. 19 to permit purchases by credit card, as well as sell lottery products directly to customers, bypassing retailers. The lottery commission intends to sell lottery tickets directly to consumers using a mobile app.

Sen. Jeff Bridges, D-Greenwood Village, is the bill’s primary co-sponsor in the Senate, along with Sen. Judy Amabile, D-Boulder.

He told Colorado Politics Thursday that, “especially at a time when Coloradans are struggling to afford the cost of living, now is not the time to make it easier for folks to lose money to the state government through lotto.”

It’s also not the time to legalize the use of credit cards, he said, adding, “This bill bans online sales and credit cards, keeping lotto where it belongs, only in person and only with cash or debit (cards).”

Bridges was among 25 lawmakers who wrote to the lottery commission prior to its decision in November, advising the body to come to the Colorado General Assembly with proposed changes first.

“Given the General Assembly’s concerns about practices that increase the potential for problem gambling, we believe potential costs of this policy decision may not have been fully considered in this rule-making process,” the lawmakers wrote. “Those issues deserve a fuller airing and, if appropriate, approval only by means of legislation. Therefore, we oppose the adoption of this rule change.”

The signatories included the leadership of both the House and Senate from both parties.

Bridges’ bill has drawn support from Republicans and Democrats, with 25 cosponsors, including five of the signatories to the Nov. 2 letter.

SB 117 would directly take action on the rule changes, instead of the commission going through an annual rule review bill this year. That measure allows lawmakers to review agency rule changes, which sometimes number in the thousands each year. Usually, that measure does not invite any controversy.

When the lottery commission approved its rule changes in November, its communications director told Colorado Politics that the body would ask for an “out of cycle review request” in order to get those rules changes into the 2026 bill.

That’s because the deadline for rules submitted for the review bill was Nov. 1, and the vote to change the rules happened more than two weeks later.

But the changes didn’t make it into the rule review bill.

Lottery spokesperson Meghan Dougherty told Colorado Politics the commission passed the rule changes in accordance with its authority and that the changes went into effect on Nov. 20. She also noted 2022 legislation that allowed the commission to remove restrictions on cashless payments.

While the rule changes have been approved by the commission, the move to credit cards would have to wait until “a comprehensive player health program is established, and there is no set launch date for either,” she said.

“Our leadership and the commission are taking a deliberate and measured approach to ensure proper safeguards are in place to protect our players,” Dougherty said.

A poll released last week by the National Association Against iGaming said 70% opposed allowing 18-year-olds to play lottery games online using credit cards.

The second part of the changes approved by the commission in November allows the state lottery to sell tickets online, including through a mobile app. (The lottery already has a mobile app, but it does not yet allow for purchases there.)

Retailers who have been selling lottery tickets for years pointed out that this move would put them in competition with the government. Coupled with the fees retailers pay for credit card use, it would negate most of the profit they make when selling lottery tickets, they said.

The NAIG poll showed that 44% of Coloradans purchased lottery tickets in the past year. But 88% of those polled agreed that online gambling “is the most dangerous form of gambling when it comes to addiction risk.”

The poll was conducted by co/efficient on behalf of NAIG between Jan. 20-22, with 801 likely general election voters and a margin of error of plus or minus 3.45 points.