Greyhound betting in Colorado will soon be a relic of the past.
Gov. Jared Polis on Friday afternoon signed HB23-1041 into law, which will prohibit wagering on dog races conducted at out-of-state race tracks.
Colorado hasn’t seen a greyhound race since 2008 and in 2014 officially banned the sport.
But betting on dog racing continued here at off-track betting venues, which simulcast races occurring in states where it remained legal. Colorado gamblers placed more than $22.3 million on greyhound racing last year — the fifth-highest mark in the country.
The bipartisan bill closes a loophole that has allowed Coloradans to bet on a sport that the state already had outlawed, bill sponsors said.
“We’ve come full circle,” Rep. Monica Duran, a Jefferson County Democrat and House Majority leader, said Friday. “We’ve finally completed the job.”
Christine A. Dorchak, president of Grey2k USA Worldwide, a nonprofit working to end greyhound racing said the bill signing “marks a victory for everyone in the state who cares about greyhounds.”
The law will take effect Oct. 1, 2024.
The legislation also creates a greyhound welfare and adoption fund, which will provide $75,000 in funding over the next three years before it’s repealed in 2026.
Colorado becomes the fourth state in the past 18 months to outlaw or restrict simulcast and account wagering on greyhound racing, following Kansas, Oregon and Massachusetts.
There are only two active tracks left in the United States — both in West Virginia. Forty-two states have banned dog racing, according to Grey2K, but the sport continues to be run in the United Kingdom and Mexico.
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