A bill seeking to reverse the Colorado Lottery’s recent move to allow credit card purchases for tickets narrowly cleared its first legislative hurdle last week, advancing on a 5-4 vote after hours of debate over gambling addiction, consumer debt and the future of online lottery sales.

But the measure — which the Senate Finance Committee advanced — still faces significant challenges, including worries from some lawmakers about provisions that go beyond credit cards and the likelihood of a veto from Gov. Jared Polis, whose administration has opposed the proposal.

The four “no” votes came from committee members who had previously signed onto a letter last November objecting to the credit card change without legislative input. The bill goes beyond the credit card issue, according to committee members.

Committee testimony also revealed that the lottery plans to collect player data to monitor spending and determine whether players should be educated on gambling issues. The lottery did not divulge during the hearing how players would be advised that their use of a mobile app to buy tickets would be tracked, who collects that data, and how it could be used or even shared.

Senate Bill 117 would prohibit the sale of lottery tickets using anything other than cash or debit cards. It would also block the lottery from setting up an online app for direct sales of lottery tickets and ban the sale of lottery tickets through couriers, which take customer orders and then physically buy tickets at a retailer. One of the courier companies is the state’s largest seller of lottery tickets, according to the Colorado Lottery.

Co-sponsor Sen. Judy Amabile, D-Boulder, said she signed on to the bill to help people get out of debt. When people install a gaming app on their phone, as the state lottery app would, “the consequences are pretty dire,” she told the committee.

She said she is sensitive to the impact this kind of gaming has on young men, who are struggling and who she believes are the most vulnerable. Plus, she added later, cell phones are addictive.

“I don’t want us to set up a whole generation of Coloradans who are in desperate financial straits because of this,” she said.

Co-sponsor Sen. Jeff Bridges, D-Greenwood Village, took an interest in the changes when the lottery commission held a rulemaking hearing last November, in which the gambling body approved the use of credit cards and the mobile app.

“You shouldn’t be losing money you don’t have,” Bridges said of the use of credit cards, referring to running up debt and hoping that, despite the odds, people would make money.

His biggest worry is the setup of iLottery, the online gaming app. Having a mobile app on the phone is not the same as waiting to buy a lottery ticket, he said. Bridges also believes the commission lacked the authority to authorize credit cards or the mobile app and that what it approved is unconstitutional.

“This is addicting, this is dangerous, this is run by the same folks that use algorithms to get folks addicted to sports betting,” Bridges said.

He also took issue with the state getting into the gambling business, noting this would be the single largest expansion of the lottery in state history.

Bridges agreed to an amendment removing the couriers from the bill. Rob Porter, the chief legal officer for iLotto, one of two couriers in Colorado, told Colorado Politics that his company does not accept credit cards.

Revenue from the lottery goes to a variety of outdoor initiatives, including state parks and Great Outdoors Colorado.

Representatives of several outdoor groups testified in favor of allowing the lottery to proceed with the changes.

Amanda Quintana, the Colorado Lottery player health manager, told the committee about the lottery’s efforts to combat problem gambling. She said that cash-only retail purchases are anonymous and don’t allow observation or data collection of spending patterns.

A digital platform, she said, would allow the lottery to implement “evidence-based player protections,” including expanded identity and age verification technology, deposit and play limits, and other behavioral monitoring. This would show players their real-time spending, she said.

Tom Seaver, the lottery’s senior director, said the lottery must evolve to capitalize on changing consumer behavior. People are online, and “they deserve to play the lottery how and when they choose,” he said.

A digital platform will also draw new players, people who don’t regularly go to retail stores, and they would offer coupons that players could redeem at retail locations, keeping retail sales up, he said.

The Colorado Lottery has a constitutional mandate to return its proceeds to the outdoors, said Tim Brass of Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

Lottery proceeds make up 15% of the wildlife agency’s revenue and are among its most stable sources of revenue, Brass said.

“Thats a pretty big change to just be going through rulemaking” and not coming to the legislature, or to voters, as well as ignoring a letter from the legislature, said Sen. Kyle Mullica, D-Northglenn.

With proceeds growing to Colorado Parks and Wildlife or Great Outdoors Colorado, that means “we’re essentially opening this up to people losing more money in our state, correct?” he asked.

Seaver eventually said yes. In the long run, “the idea is to provide games of chance that give people an opportunity to play online, just like everywhere else in their lives. The idea is to keep up with what consumers want,” he said.

This is an addictive product, Mullica told Seaver, “and you’re offering incentives and coupons” to encourage people to do this. The legislator pressed why the lottery didn’t see that as a concern.

Seaver responded that the lottery agency isn’t going out “willy-nilly” and flooding the marketplace with coupons and offers to play.

“We will selectively encourage” people to sample and play the lottery, he said, and because of the safeguards, the lottery body will be able to see what players are doing. If they show signs of problem behavior, they will receive information through the app. He also noted that the lottery will use data from a player information database to “create the best opportunities for players to play.”

Seaver explained that a third-party vendor will be contracted to develop the technology, but that the lottery will oversee, manage, and guide all key decisions.

Those who testified in favor of the bill largely represented anti-gambling groups.

About 14% of those who play the lottery suffer harm or have gambling issues, according to Peggy Brown, who has worked with problem gambling groups for more than 20 years. She told the committee that an expansion that increases the risk of harm to Coloradans must be authorized by the legislature.

Oliver Barie, who represents the National Association Against iGaming, pointed out that states are restricting minor access to social media because of addiction and mental health concerns. Yet, some would allow that same 24/7 “in your pocket” device for gambling, he said

“We are not excited to be in competition” with the state of Colorado, said Mary Szarmach, who, along with her brother, operates 59 gas stations in Colorado. She said her company doesn’t earn enough in commissions to justify the credit card fees, which would eat up half their profits.

“It’s not fair to the brick and mortar stores that built the Colorado lottery,” she said.

As the hearing concluded, Snyder said the issue for him is credit cards — and not some of the other provisions of the bill. Committee vice-chair Sen. Janice Marchman, D-Loveland, said she signed onto co-sponsoring the bill before reading it, and that she, too, is only looking for a ban on credit cards.

Marchman voted “yes for now” in committee.

The bill moves on to the Senate Appropriations Committee and further work.