Colorado’s public officials have a challenge before them in the next decade: preventing gambling addiction from becoming a public health crisis.

As The Post¶¶Ňőap Noelle Phillips described in her three-part series, when Colorado voters legalized sports betting in 2019, they put 24/7 access to online sportsbooks in the pocket of every Coloradan. The result has been $30.65 billion in wagers and a staggering $2.33 billion in losses and fees since 2020.

Despite some big wins that fueled emotional highs for Everett, he ultimately lost big to sports betting. He went into debt chasing his losses, borrowed money and a car from his father, pawned valuable possessions, and lost relationships with friends and family. Everett¶¶Ňőap dad stood by him through it all, pushing his son into a treatment center in another state. He has not gambled since April 2024.

“It¶¶Ňőap such a hidden problem,” Everett told Phillips. “You’re definitely not alone. I know how scary it is. If you do not address it, it¶¶Ňőap only going to get worse. You’re not going to win yourself out of whatever hole you’re in. You can’t bet yourself out of it.”

How do we prevent more Coloradans from falling into the trap of gambling addiction?

A comprehensive K-12 education program is essential to teach kids two important lessons: the house always wins and the science of a brain’s addiction to dopamine hits.

This is not a novel idea, as Phillips reported.

Arty Smith, a teacher at Kent Denver, has developed a data-driven education program that explains the probability, statistics, modeling powers and hold rates that fuel multibillion-dollar companies, guaranteeing a profit despite the “risk” associated with a wager. The Post also launched a handy tool online that analyzes data from Colorado’s sports betting corporations.

Phillips found someone who had actually made money from sports betting — beating the house consistently enough to bring in real money. Josiah Clarke said after he won $24,000 in two football seasons, FanDuel and DraftKings promptly limited his bets to less than $100. FanDuel and DraftKings told Phillips that they limit users who appear to be having problems with gambling.

Colorado’s gamble on sports betting

The are equally important for kids to understand. There is a double-whammy dopamine effect that sports wagering apps utilize to get users hooked. Some people are predisposed to having a seriously addictive response to the release of chemicals in the brain when they win, but everyone suffers the effects to some extent.

The more Colorado’s next generation understands about addiction and the statistical likelihood that the house will win, the more likely they are to enjoy gambling responsibly. We learned this lesson from nicotine addiction, where cigarette and tobacco use plummeted within a single generation, not because nicotine magically became less addictive, but because of a robust, industry-funded, anti-smoking campaign that taught children about lung cancer. When the dark secret was unveiled, the choice for millions of teenagers and young adults was easy -- smoking is not worth a shorter lifespan.

We expect a similar effect with sports betting. When Colorado kids know the tricks of the trade, they’ll make smarter decisions for the rest of their lives, whether it¶¶Ňőap wagering on sports, putting coins in a slot machine, buying a lottery ticket or playing bingo at the local parlor. And as a bonus, some of the knowledge of addiction might help them set their cellphones down a little more often, too.

Some industry-funded addiction groups take a neutral position on gambling that might prevent a fully transparent curriculum about industry practices and dopamine-seeking behaviors. Colorado lawmakers may need to intervene to ensure that the industry is helping to fund programs that are truly honest and actually prevent unhealthy gambling practices.

The Denver Post editorial board supported Proposition DD in 2019 and recommended that voters legalize online sports betting. The board wrote at the time: "We cannot pretend that there isn’t a dark side to this bill, however. Compulsive gambling can upend lives, ruin relationships and harm families. There will be folks who take the pastime too far, risk too much and struggle to stop the behavior that has become like a drug. The bill does include funding for gambling addiction treatment programs, but everyone is aware that will not prevent the problem."

Now, six years into this experiment, we can clearly see that the answer to prevention is an industry-funded early education program that is brutally honest about the risks and rewards of gambling.

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Re: “The gamble on sports betting,” June 21, news story.

Thank you very much for your series on sports gambling in Colorado. I appreciate that you used the word “gambling” rather than “gaming”, which makes it sound like a fun game of hopscotch instead of what it really is.

I wish you had clarified the “hold rate” — the massive amount of money the sports books are taking from those who wager with them. I’m sure it¶¶Ňőap not the same as profits (they are clearly spending a lot on advertising to hook new wagerers), but according to your graphs, it¶¶Ňőap over $2.33 billion of Coloradans’ money these companies are “holding.”

There are real risks associated with this explosion of gambling: to athletes, to sports, to our society. I hope sports aren’t ruined by it.

Cathy Storey, Englewood

I appreciated the well-written series on sports betting. When Gov. John Hickenlooper’s bold state water plan came out in 2015, it lacked a funding element. I was a participant in the very early conversations about a funding source. Several of us advocated for sports betting.

We had the lottery and casino gambling successfully financing state and local parks and historic preservation projects, respectively. Why not earmark gambling dollars for the critical issue of water?

However, I now harbor some regret. The money raised from sports betting is paltry ($124 million as reported) compared to the overwhelming need for better-financed water projects, and the terrible addictive nature of sports betting, as reported by The Post, is very disturbing. I hope the next governor, General Assembly, and other state and local leaders explore a better method to fund water policy and to substantively address this awful addiction.

Sam Mamet, Denver

Inside look at Tina Peters’ release from the clemency board is appreciated

Re: “Polis broke with equal justice to let Tina Peters out early,” June 21 commentary.

Thank you for the forthright commentary by Azra Taslimi and Hannah Seigel Proff, members of the governor’s Clemency Board. Their courageous report answered some sticky questions in my mind as to why Gov. Jared Polis acted in defiance of 12 jurors, numerous appeals, public opinion and 11 members of his own Clemency Board.

As a former member of the Arapahoe Community Corrections Board for 12 years, we wrestled with many of the same considerations reviewing applications for community correction. I surmised at first that Polis was acting in the best interest of Colorado by attempting to win some reprieve from some denial of funds by the federal administration.

I could not believe he was “caving” to the pressure of the president in his pseudo application of the pardon process. The authors have pointed out the inequities of the justice system far better than I can in this writing. However, why did Polis actually grant clemency to a non-contrite Tina Peters, who, upon release, bashed our democratic election system? That question remains.

Philip Arreola, Denver

My fears were reinforced with the article by Azra Taslimi and Hannah Seigel Proff. Thank you. I voted twice and enthusiastically for Polis. However, in the last couple of years I have wondered where he was and what happened to him?

I consider him an intelligent person. When he let this dangerous woman out of jail, I wondered how he had been threatened or, perhaps, bought. Is it his disappointment over not getting his fancy bridge across downtown Denver? I don’t get it. I have credentials of my own and 80 years of life experience behind me. This awful woman is dangerous to our precious and wounded democracy. Is Polis planning to run for president as a Republican? Someone, please, enlighten me.

Karen Baum, Lakewood

I totally agree with Azra Taslimi about Gov. Polis giving Tina Peters clemency. What¶¶Ňőap that all about? Of all the people to forgive, she is not worthy and certainly not sorry about the absolute lies she told and is still telling. What is he thinking, granting her an unwarranted clemency! He’s made a few decisions lately that are questionable in my opinion, like vetoing a limit on credit card fees and a bill that would have provided benefits to firefighters who develop certain cancers not already recognized as occupational hazards. It¶¶Ňőap a good thing this is his last term.

Cathi Barnes, Littleton

Solar panels belong in many places, including covering canals

Re: “California might have a solution for its water; clean power needs,” June 23 news story.

I read with great interest the story about California considering covering its irrigation canals with solar panels. They are proposing this for two reasons: one to generate electricity while not taking usable agricultural land out of production, and two to create shade over the water to thereby reduce evaporation and conserve water.

I’d like to take that concept a little farther (and I hope our city council members are reading this). How about for every new sizable parking lot that is built for a project, say the new King Soopers on South Colorado Blvd, a requirement is made to cover that parking with solar panels. This achieves similar results as the California proposal, generating clean electricity and providing a cooling effect by shading the otherwise black, hot asphalt parking lot. I, for one, would seek out businesses that provided shaded parking lots.

Mark Geyer, Denver

The most ironic part about the article on covering irrigation canals with solar panels is that it is a new idea. I am not an agronomist, but it has been apparent to me for years that we are woefully behind the times in our approach to saving water and maximizing the benefit of our abundant natural resource — the sun.

In the same issue of the paper, we saw animals seeking shade in the shadow of structures. We already know some parking lots have provided shade with solar panels, which conceivably could provide energy for charging stations for electric vehicles. Shouldn’t new data centers and large fulfillment centers be required to harness the sun to solve problems?

Candidates for public office, this is a huge issue that is getting lost in all the clamor about gas prices, reflecting pools, etc. Like in California, we in Colorado need to press forward with public/ private partnerships that utilize our abundant sun to save water and power the grid. Imagine all our baking asphalt parking lots shaded and creating electricity at the same time.

A. Lynn Buschhoff, Denver

Don’t accidentally take Vespas off the roads with regulation

Re:  “Curbs on motorized vehicles, scooters,” June 24 news story.

Recently, I restored a 1970 Vespa, converted it to electric, and registered it as a low-powered scooter. It’s a wonderful way to get around town. Due to generous low-powered scooter laws in Colorado, I can often beat traffic by driving responsibly in bike lanes (not trails!) and lane filtering. And parking is a breeze!

On June 23rd, Douglas County passed a regulation to attempt to control reckless driving. I agree that irresponsible drivers using high-powered e-bikes and other vehicles dangerously is something we need to rein in. However, this ordinance, as communicated, unnecessarily targets low-powered scooters in ways other counties and sustainable transportation advocates should take note of.

My concern is that low-powered scooters driven according to existing state laws are part of our solution to the Front Range’s growing traffic and environmental problems, not a part of the problem. By lumping low-powered scooters with non-street-legal vehicles and improper driving behavior, we send a concerning message to potential users of alternative transportation.

Education and awareness (as required by current state law) are needed for us to better understand the rights and responsibilities of different forms of transportation. We create confusion with statements on government websites like “under current state law, these vehicles are not street legal” when referring to both off-highway and low-powered scooters.

Colorado is a great place to own a Vespa. I love that when I drive, I always get a smile or a conversation.  As quoted in Disney’s Luca: “Vespa è libertĂ ” (Vespa is liberty!).

David Porcaro, Broomfield

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The bulk of the money — nearly $1.3 million — has been spent on Democratic primaries, with a smaller amount spent in Republican races. The Democratic spending has flowed from American Future, a vaguely named state-level political action committee that has reported just one donor — that, in turn, has been bankrolled exclusively by . That super PAC has received $43 million in donations from DraftKings, FanDuel and Fanatics.

Colorado’s gamble on sports betting

Without federal campaign finance reports, it would otherwise be unclear which interests were paying for the mailers and advertisements distributed under American Future's name.

The ads , and contains only vague allusions to Democratic-adjacent policy positions. The state PAC's description of itself provides no clarity, either, detailing its purpose as "supporting Colorado state legislative candidates who focus on pressing issues facing everyday people."

The industry's campaign spending comes barely a month after state lawmakers passed , a first-in-the-nation law that was sharply opposed by the sports-betting industry. The measure, signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis on June 1, limits the number of daily deposits a gambler can make and bans push notifications intended to solicit bets or deposits, among other new regulations.

The spending has not targeted the bill's sponsors, none of whom face primary opponents later this month, and has even supported some lawmakers who voted in favor of SB-131. The companies' PACs have donated to candidates across the political spectrum, including in some races with a clear favorite.

Other groups have been spending big in statehouse primaries this year, with much of it continuing a battle to tilt the Democratic majority in a more moderate or progressive direction.

The sports-betting-aligned state PAC reported nearly $215,000 in donations from its parent group as of June 15, along with $282,000 in spending. But in the weeks since then, it's posted hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional spending, bringing its total spending in Democratic primaries to nearly $1.3 million as of Monday afternoon, according to campaign finance records.

Final totals won't be clear until after June 30, which is primary election day.

On the GOP side, American Conservative Fund, which has also received money exclusively from Win for America, has donated $250,000 to a state-level PAC supporting Republican statehouse candidates. That PAC is funded by other outside business groups as well.

Like its Democratic counterpart, lists several Republican-sounding buzzwords among its priorities, with no additional information about its backers.

Messages sent to the three gambling companies were not returned Monday. Nathan Click, a spokesman for American Future, referred The Post to a previous statement, first sent to Axios in April. In that statement, the PAC said it was seeking candidates "who will thoughtfully approach regulation and ensure legal sports betting can continue to support communities through billions in tax revenue and jobs across America."

But the ubiquitous spread of sports betting has raised significant regulator interest amid growing fears about problem gambling, The Denver Post reported in a recent special series.

Since Colorado voters legalized the practice in 2020, residents have wagered more than $30.6 billion on games and athletes. More than $154 million has been collected in taxes, much of it for water-focused preservation and conservation projects. At the same time, more than 45,000 people in the state have called a hotline set up for gamblers who may need help, and 1,245 are now on the self-exclusion list that bans them from betting for at least five years.

Sen. Matt Ball, a Denver Democrat who sponsored SB-131 earlier this year, said he wasn't surprised the industry was getting directly involved in campaigns. He said the industry did not like SB-131 and had been active in several other states. that the federal PAC planned to spend money in as many as 15 states by November

Ball said he'd heard that lawmakers backing sports-betting regulations in other states had faced threats that the industry would back their primary opponents. But none of SB-131's sponsors has a primary challenger this year, and the Democratic primaries in which the companies' PACs are participating are in mostly safe blue seats located in the metro Denver.

"I'm not surprised that they're spending this directly," Ball said — but how they're spending has surprised him.

"Some of it is a little hard to read," he said. "I don't understand why they are spending in the races they are spending in, because they are spending in races across the political spectrum."

On the Democratic side, the money has been spent on roughly a dozen primary candidates, most of them running for soon-to-be-empty seats.

The PAC cannot coordinate with candidates' campaigns, and it's unclear why the gambling PAC chose the candidates that it did. While several Democratic hopefuls are moderates and have been backed by other outside business interests, at least two are progressives endorsed by the left-wing Working Families Party. Some are in contentious races, while others are comfortable favorites.

The two Working Families Party-endorsed candidates, Justine Sandoval and Gena Ozols, have both released statements on social media noting that the mailers came from an outside group that wasn't authorized by their campaigns.

Sandoval, who is running for a Denver-based House seat and has received more support from the sports-betting PAC than nearly any other candidate, said she was unfamiliar with the group's backers until recently.

Her campaign has raised $25,000 — more than $100,000 less than what American Future has spent to support her from the outside against primary opponent Sterling Thomas Simms. Sandoval said she was generally opposed to unrestricted outside spending.

She met with DraftKing's lobbyist in March or April, and the lobbyist was "curious" about her position on sports betting. She wasn't opposed to gambling, she said, but was concerned about it being unregulated. She didn't hear anything else from the group.

Then the mailers and advertisements started flowing.

Sandoval figured that the group was backing her because its leaders thought she'd win. She also noted that the district she hopes to represent, House District 5, will soon include all three of Denver's largest sports venues if the Broncos build a stadium in Burnham Yard.

"So, there's some kind of investment thought there," she said.

Ball speculated that the spending was a "goodwill" donation in support of candidates who are either likely to win in contested races or don't have a serious primary challenge at all. Three of the Democratic candidates that American Future is supporting are incumbents seeking a return to office. While they each have primary challengers, all are expected to comfortably win their contests later this month. And all three voted in favor of SB-131.

State Sen. Adrienne Benavidez, who has received more than $150,000 in outside support from American Future, said she wasn't familiar with the group or its funders until informed by a reporter Monday morning. She said she'd never had contact with the PAC or the companies supporting it.

She welcomed support from anyone, she said, and was pleased that the ads had been positive support for her, rather than negative against her opponent, Alex Ryckman.

"It was totally out of the blue," said Benavidez, who previously served in the House before earning a vacancy appointment to the Senate earlier this year. "I don't know anything about them. The contributions coming from those companies — I was not aware until you just told me that. I've never had any contact with them, I know nothing."

Updated at 9:56 a.m. June 21, 2026: This article was updated to include additional campaign spending by American Future.

But when legalized sports betting debuted in Colorado in 2020, another tradition took hold at those Lot W tailgates: sports gambling. Now, when the family assembles before the home games, they discuss parlays and point spreads almost as much as they talk about Bo Nix and Sean Payton.

On a warm January day, while partying outside their late-model Winnebago painted with blue-and-orange stripes, they figured out the wagers they planned to put on the Broncos’ final regular-season game, against the , and other NFL matchups.

They weren’t alone. Sports betting and fantasy football dominated conversations throughout the parking lots as tailgaters speculated how much they might win.

The gameday bets — putting a little money on the line — are all part of the fun of football Sundays, said Joe Canales, a family friend who joined the tailgate.

“We all get excited when somebody wins,” he said.

Legalized sports betting is changing the face of sports and fandom in Colorado as people wager billions annually on games and on the athletes who play them. In the six years since voters approved Proposition DD, the state’s gamblers have wagered more than $30.6 billion on sports, averaging $425 million a month.

For years, sports betting was taboo within the professional leagues as commissioners and team owners kept gambling at arm’s length for fear of scandal. Now, leagues and teams promote their partnerships with gambling companies. Fans watching games on TV are inundated with sports-betting ads, and those in the stands can see gambling companies’ names painted on courts and fields.

Bettors often care more about individual athletes’ performances than about their hometown teams as they wager on how many three-point shots a basketball player will make or how many touchdowns a quarterback might throw, multiple people told The Denver Post. Athletes feel the pressure, whether it’s because they receive angry messages on social media from people who lose money or from gamblers seeking an edge from inside information.

Legalized gambling is also threatening the integrity of sports, with fans fearing athletes, coaches and referees may alter calls or plays to influence the outcomes of bets. Just before the NCAA’s March Madness basketball tournament kicked off, Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, that found a majority of Americans — almost 60% — believe sports betting affects the integrity of college basketball.

“It¶¶Ňőap ruining the relationship between a player and their sport, and it¶¶Ňőap ruining the relationship between fandom and the athletes,” said Montee Ball, a former Broncos running back who leads the , which focuses on athletes’ mental health.

All of that is forcing coaches and administrators to incorporate gambling and mental health awareness into athletes’ training, with education now starting as early as high school for athletes in Colorado.

In the past six years, sports betting scandals have rocked professional and college leagues, ensnaring Colorado athletes such as hometown basketball legend Chauncey Billups, who was implicated last fall as an unnamed co-conspirator in a rigged NBA betting scheme.

This story, which examines how gambling is changing sports, is the third in The Post’s series about legalized sports betting’s impact on Colorado. The first story looked at an alarming rise in gambling addiction, while the second installment covered how sports wagering’s tax revenue benefits water projects in Colorado.

Sports betting has existed in America as long as athletes have laced up their high-top sneakers. In the past, gamblers sought bookies in secret to place bets, collect winnings and pay debts. Gamblers turned to offshore sportsbooks once the internet became accessible.

Now, sports fans place bets from their phones, often in the middle of games, thanks to a that overturned the , allowing states to set their own laws regulating sports betting. Colorado acted quickly, putting the question to a ballot referendum in November 2019; voters allowed sportsbooks to open for business in May 2020.

And, almost as quickly, Denver’s professional sports teams announced business deals with gambling companies.

An evolving relationship

Just a little more than a decade ago, the was so antagonistic toward sports gambling that the league’s commissioner threatened to suspend Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo over his plans to attend that was being organized by a company he owned.

The NFL prohibited players from participating in any event sponsored by a gambling-related company, and the league so narrowly defined gambling that fantasy football was included, even though those games pit people against each other rather than the house, which keeps the profits.

Players are still not allowed to bet on the NFL, play daily fantasy games or visit sportsbooks during football season. But the league and team owners have embraced sports betting.

Denver’s major sports teams are reluctant to talk about those new business relationships, with every professional team as well as the University of Colorado Boulder and its football coach Deion Sanders declining The Post’s interview requests.

The Broncos and the Colorado Rockies sent prepared statements via email, declaring that they follow the rules while protecting their players and the games’ integrity.

“In compliance with the NFL’s gambling policy, all members of our organization undergo comprehensive training on the subject,” the statement from Broncos spokesman Patrick Smyth said. “For players, this includes mandatory in-person education as well as in-season communication and other resources from the team and league.”

The Broncos inked their first business deal with sports-betting app in June 2020 — one month after Colorado’s sportsbooks opened for business.  The team also partnered that summer with , which opened a now-shuttered luxury lounge inside the stadium, and . Today, BetMGM is the team’s lone sports-betting partner.

The Colorado Rockies partner with Denver-based , allowing the company to have a sign on the outfield wall.

also partners with bet365 as a sponsor for the and . That , which allows bet365’s logo to be placed under the Avalanche’s ice and on the Nuggets’ baseline, is in place through the 2028-2029 season.

Courtney Brunious, an assistant professor at the , said he was not surprised Denver’s teams did not want to talk about their business relationships with gambling companies.

“There’s still a certain stigma attached to it,” said Brunious, who teaches sports business. “It’s still — I don’t want to say an uneasy relationship — but it’s an ongoing and evolving partnership. It’s not necessarily something they want to put a spotlight on.”

The gambling companies are eager to associate with professional sports because it puts their names in front of enthusiastic fans, Brunious said. The teams benefit from sports gambling because people who bet money on games are more likely to watch them on television, boosting coveted audience numbers.

The sure thing, Brunious said, is that those relationships will not dissolve. There’s too much money at stake.

“It’s not going away,” he said. “It¶¶Ňőap going to require adjustments to make sure all parties are protected as much as possible.”

The sports teams and betting companies are entwined with each other’s success.

Every decision a team makes is analyzed by gamblers and can move a betting line up or down, changing the fortunes of those who wager and those who make money off of it.

When the Los Angeles Rams on June 1 traded for reigning defensive player of the year Myles Garrett, that team became Las Vegas oddsmakers’ favorite to win the next Super Bowl. Meanwhile, the odds for Garrett’s former team, the Cleveland Browns, dropped to 200-to-1 from 115-to-1, according to a news release from Circa Sports.

Peter Jackson, the chief executive officer of , FanDuel’s parent company, explained in a February how “player narratives” impact his company’s revenue. When the NFL’s most popular players are not in the playoffs, the fans bet less money, he said.

“There was one player we had on our books over the course of the year that had more money bet on him in the course of the season than the Pats did,” Jackson said, without naming the player. “This player stuff is super important, and when we don’t have those key players making the playoffs or the Super Bowl, it really does impact player engagement and betting volumes.”

Pressure and harassment

Players are well aware that fans’ interest in their performance is more intense when money is on the line.

They already face performance anxiety because players are super competitive and want to win, said Ball, who played for the Broncos during the 2013 and 2014 seasons. Professional athletes also know that an injury or a bad game can cost them playing time and shorten their careers. Now, they also have pressure from fans who want to win money by betting on whether they throw a touchdown pass or catch an interception.

“The athletes can’t escape it,” Ball said. “They shouldn’t have to turn everything off because John is screaming on Twitter, ‘I hope you tear your ACL.’ ”

Athletes in all sports are reporting an increase in harassment since sports betting became legal.

Nuggets guard Bruce Brown brought it up on Oct. 23 in the wake of an NBA sports-betting scandal, telling reporters, “Obviously, after every game, we get DMs about not hitting people’s parlays. There’s been games where I’ve been called every name in the book, just because I didn’t hit a three or two. I mean, that¶¶Ňőap just the state of the game we’re in, since sports betting got legal. So I mean, just kind of deal with it. Not think about it. Don’t check your DMs after games.”

Cory Fox, senior vice president of public policy and sustainability at FanDuel, said the company banishes gamblers from its app if they are caught harassing athletes. The other legalized sports books have similar policies.

“First and foremost, we find the harassment of athletes abhorrent,” Fox said.

In June 2025, FanDuel who heckled Gabby Thomas, an Olympic gold medalist in track. The fan, who goes by “Mr100kaday” and describes himself as “The Track and Field Bully,” posted a video of himself hurling insults as Thomas signed autographs and claimed that his heckling caused Thomas to lose the race and allowed him to win a $1,000 parlay bet.

FanDuel is working with sports leagues to develop a process to identify and investigate harassers so they can be banned from the app, Fox said.

“It’s also true there has been an increase in bad behavior,” he said. “This is something we’ve seen globally and it has a lot of factors involved.”

Temptation lurks

There is another dark side to sports gambling — rigged performances.

A major betting scandal rocked the NBA in October when the Terry Rozier, a former Charlotte Hornets point guard, who stands accused of participating in an illegal sports-betting scheme using inside NBA knowledge to defraud sportsbooks and for checking out of a game early to benefit bettors. He has .

And the city of Denver was shocked when Billups, who was then the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, was linked to the Rozier scandal as an apparent unindicted co-conspirator. Billups was also for allegedly participating in a Mafia-backed illegal poker scheme to defraud unwitting players during card games. He has also pleaded not guilty.

Other sports-betting scandals involving athletes with Colorado ties:

• Denver Broncos defensive lineman Eyioma Uwazurike was suspended for the 2023 season for gambling on NFL games, including five involving the Broncos
• Colorado Rapids midfielder Max Alves was removed from the team in 2023 in the wake of a match-fixing investigation in his home country of Brazil
• Jontay Porter, the brother of former Nuggets starter Michael Porter Jr., was banned from the NBA in 2024 after he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors about his health and limited his participation in one or more games for betting purposes while playing for the Toronto Raptors

Sports betting scandals are almost as old as sports themselves. Think of the Black Sox scandal during the 1919 World Series, when multiple team members conspired with professional gamblers to throw games.

, who played in the NBA for eight years and overseas for three, said gambling is part of the culture for professional athletes.

During his 11 years of pro ball, teammates would bet on anything — trick shots during practice, card games on the road, even which referees would call a playoff game, Funderburke said. It’s the nature of being competitive and confident.

“You’re taught at an early age to bet on yourself,” he said. “You’ve overcome the odds, right? Little League, high school, college, now in the NBA, you’re playing against the best in the world. You always feel like you can overcome the odds. And with athletes, they feel like they can win at just about anything.”

Funderburke, who now works as a financial adviser, speaks out against gambling and tells his clients there are better things to do with their money. He traveled to Colorado in May to encourage lawmakers to pass a bill that would establish guardrails on sports betting in an attempt to curb addiction rates.

“Here’s the problem with the culture,” he said. “Most of the guys that I know — and I won’t say names — who had issues with gambling, not only end up having financial constraints and issues, but their marriages and their families deteriorate at the same time, which I think is much worse than any type of financial problems.”

The professional leagues and universities know the temptation is there and they are working to combat it.

But they are not always successful.

The controversy surrounding Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby serves as the latest example.

‘A source of heartburn’

Days before the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament, sent a warning to all of its athletes: Sports betting is against the rules.

“It is still to a large degree one of the worst violations you can have,” said , CSU’s associate athletic director for compliance. “With sports wagering, the door pretty much gets shut down. Like a positive drug test too many times, your eligibility is just shot.”

However, the Sorsby case upended that policy for college football.

Sorsby made thousands of impermissible bets worth at least $90,000 on college and pro sports, including some on his team when he was a freshman at the University of Indiana. The NCAA suspended Sorsby after he was caught and admitted to gambling, but he sued in an attempt to play his senior season.

A Texas judge ruled June 8 through a temporary injunction that Sorsby should be allowed to play during the upcoming season after serving a two-game suspension. The ruling could overturn NCAA rules, and it propelled college football into uncertainty as to what happens if other student-athletes bet on their own games.

The decision undermined a longstanding NCAA policy that forbids college athletes from gambling on sports and bans them if they’re caught betting on their own teams.

College sports are rapidly changing, with athletes able to earn money from their schools, booster clubs, television commercials and social media feeds. They have more money in their pockets now — in some cases, millions of dollars, Siemer said. The temptation to bet on sports lurks, he said, especially for high-level athletes who believe they know more about their sport than anyone else and can predict wins and losses on sports-betting apps.

“That’s a source of heartburn for us,” he said. “We don’t want to legislate morality, but they have more money now than when they just had a scholarship, and we want them to be smart with it.”

Every student-athlete signs a gambling agreement, acknowledging that they cannot place bets and cannot provide insider information to others, Siemer said.

Each year, CSU brings in experts to talk to students about the risks of gambling and to educate them on the NCAA’s rules that prohibit gambling. The athletics department wants them to understand how important it is that they do not leak tips about injuries or game strategies to others, who might benefit from the inside knowledge, Siemer said.

Last year, a presentation to students revealed just how much money was bet on each sport during a single season, and while Siemer said he could not remember the specifics, he recalled that it was “jaw-dropping.”

While football is the most popular sport for gamblers who bet on CSU sports, other teams also see healthy amounts of wagers, he said.

“I think the presumption is everyone is betting on football,” Siemer said. “Well, it’s not just football. It’s all of the sports. These sports-betting companies will put a line on anything. It doesn’t matter. Women’s tennis. Women’s soccer. The presumption that it’s all on football and basketball should be put to bed.”

Nip it in the bud

Aside from talking to athletes about the pitfalls of gambling, the leagues and teams are turning to professional monitors for help. The NCAA’s major conferences contract with , a company that specializes in sports compliance and integrity.

Matt Heap, a former deputy director, manages IC360’s , a program that monitors betting among athletes at more than 150 universities and more than 25 professional sports leagues.

“That monitors every game, every goal, every pitch,” he said.

Prohibet coordinates with sportsbooks to detect irregular gambling patterns, Heap said. The colleges also provide identifying information — dates of birth, driver’s licenses, phone numbers — on every student-athlete, making it easier to detect prohibited bets. Prohibet also monitors coaches, trainers, administrators and referees to identify irregular betting patterns.

The program can even find crossover bets from different internet addresses that can connect student-athletes to accounts owned by friends and family, he said. Word is spreading among college athletes that they can get caught, he said.

“It nips it in the bud,” Heap said. “The ones that continue to do it and push it are the ones they need to keep an eye on.”

IC360 also works with NCAA athletic departments to educate athletes on the rules surrounding gambling and to warn them about the pitfalls surrounding them. Even telling a friend, family member or classmate about a team member’s injury can sway bets, Heap said.

“Something that seems as innocent or innocuous as that can be the first sign someone is trying to get a hook into a player,” he said. “You guys are targets because someone who wants to manipulate a game outcome has to have a player, a ref or some other game official.”

Those who work with athletes believe education about sports betting must start at a younger age.

Last year, the paired with the to start a gambling awareness program for high school athletes.

CHSAA officials wanted players, parents and coaches to understand the rules and the consequences of violating them, commissioner Mike Krueger said. It’s becoming a national issue at the high school level.

Legal sportsbooks don’t take wagers on high school sports because it is prohibited by state laws, but offshore betting sites accept those wagers, as do emerging prediction markets. People must be 21 to open a legal sports betting account in the U.S., but young people access them through family members and older friends.

“It’s recognizing the reality,” Krueger said. “That’s where we’ve got to have the awareness. While sports betting continues to expand across our society, our responsibility remains unchanged. We look at it as a student well-being issue and not just around rules enforcement.”

READ MORE FROM THIS SPECIAL REPORT: Colorado’s gamble on sports betting

It’s not clear how many Coloradans are struggling to control their online sports gambling, but those who work in the mental health field say it’s a growing problem in the state. Since May 2020, more than 45,000 people have called 1-800-GAMBLER, a hotline for those who need help, and 1,245 people are currently on the state’s self-exclusion list, which means they have banned themselves from betting for at least five years.

The Denver Post is publishing this three-part series examining the impact of sports betting in Colorado in the six years since it was legalized.

Teams and leagues that once kept sports betting at arm’s length have embraced sportsbooks as business partners. That relationship is evolving as scandals have erupted, most recently involving Texas Tech’s quarterback, and as athletes report increasing harassment from angry gamblers who lose money.

Still, thousands of Coloradans regularly bet without going overboard, saying putting a little money on games makes them more exciting to watch. And bettors have generated more than $154 million in taxes, money that has gone toward funding water conservation projects across Colorado, helping preserve the state’s reservoirs, rivers and creeks for people and wildlife.

Here’s what we learned:

Part 1: Sports betting threatens to be Colorado’s ‘next big public health crisis’ if addiction isn’t addressed

Colorado plunged headfirst into legalized sports betting in 2020, and residents have bet more than $30.6 billion since then on games and the athletes who play them. But mental health experts are sounding the alarm about a growing addiction crisis that the state was not prepared to handle. Read more â–ş

Part 2: How sports betting became Colorado’s ticket to funding $140 million in water conservation projects

Since sports betting became legal, Colorado has collected more than $154 million in taxes and funneled $140 million to projects that preserve and conserve the state’s water. Supporters say the gambling money is a godsend for ranchers, fishermen, paddlers and more. Read more â–ş

Part 3: Sports betting is changing the game for Colorado’s fans and athletes as big money adds new pressures

Legalized sports betting is changing the face of sports and fandom in Colorado as people wager billions annually. Athletes are feeling the pressure to perform or provide inside information, and gambling is threatening the integrity of sports itself. Read more â–ş

Interactive dashboard: What sport does Colorado bet on the most?

Colorado sports betting has taken in more than $30.6 billion since 2020. Explore the data in an interactive dashboard that looks at what sports make the most money. Read more â–ş

Plus: Does the Denver Post’s reporter who covers sports betting bet on sports?

Reporter Noelle Phillips answers the question she asked everyone she interviewed about Colorado sports gambling: Do you bet on sports? Read more â–ş

I asked that question to everyone I interviewed for this series of stories.

So I thought it would be fair to answer it myself. And my response will be similar to many of those that I received: “Yes, but…”

I enter a $5 March Madness pool every year and put quarters on squares for the when the opportunity presents itself. I play fantasy football with my family, but there is no entry fee, and the winner gets a championship belt like those awarded in wrestling.

I also have been known to bet on the . But I have not wagered on the horse race since my husband and I hit an exacta in 2023 by correctly picking . We figured we wouldn’t have that much luck again, so why spend the money?

I’ve even placed a bet in a Las Vegas sportsbook while there on vacation.

But I’d never downloaded a sports-betting app on my phone until I started working on this series. I used two —  and — to inform my reporting.

Here’s what I learned: I did not enjoy them.

Here’s why.

My first bet was $5 on a three-leg parlay during the game against the on Jan. 29.

The Nuggets won.

I lost.

And the joy of my team’s win was diminished by the lost bet, even though it was just $5.

I found myself irritated at Peyton Watson, who failed to make the individual point total I needed to win the parlay. If only Watson had made all of his free throws.

I like Watson too much as a player to be upset over a $5 bet. But I’m competitive and I hate losing.

I also lost $20 on college basketball.

I put $10 on one game involving , a Church of Christ school in Nashville. I attended first through 12th grade on Lipscomb’s campus, and we were taught that gambling is a sin. I was amused that I could wager on the school.

The Bisons failed me. I should have listened to those Bible teachers.

I forget how I lost my remaining $10, but I was mad and determined to make it back.

My husband was quick to point out that I was “chasing,” a phenomenon gamblers describe as betting more and more money to recoup their losses. It rarely works.

However, I did get my $20 back on the NCAA women’s basketball tournament. I’ve followed women’s basketball for years because of the and , so I better understood what I was gambling on.

Then I quit. The apps will be deleted as soon as this series is published.

So now you have my answer to the question I asked everyone else.

The rusted structure was barely hanging on, and its operation was time-consuming for the busy ranchers, who had to lug special tools on all-terrain vehicles and on foot to open or close the mechanism. But it seemed impossible for the tiny district to find the $6.8 million needed to replace the headgate and the rocky diversion dam that pushed water into the canal.

Then legalized sports betting came along, and, with it, millions of dollars for Colorado water projects. The tiny irrigation district, in Moffat County in the far northwest corner of the state, soon became the poster child for how gambling money is benefiting Colorado’s waterways.

The district received a $750,000 grant from the , which doles out money from sports betting tax revenue, said, sustainable food and water program director for , which helped the district land the grant. That led to a matching grant from the program. With those two grants in hand, other organizations jumped on board, and money poured in, she said.

In 2024, the Maybell Irrigation District installed a new headgate that can be opened or closed via cellphone. If a rancher is cutting hay and doesn’t need to irrigate, he can close the gates to match the amount of water he actually needs at that moment, Lane said. And the diversion structure no longer uses boulders to control the water flow. Instead, it’s a modern structure that is the right height for water control.

The project also benefited four fish species, including the threatened humpback chub, and it made river navigation easier for boaters, helping the region’s outdoor recreation economy.

“That $750,000 was really the ball that got it all rolling, that showed people, ‘Oh, this is going somewhere,'” Lane said of that initial state grant.

Since sports betting became legal in May 2020, the state has collected more than $154 million in taxes, and the Colorado Water Conservation Board has funneled $140 million to various projects that preserve and conserve Colorado’s precious water. Supporters say the gambling money is a godsend for ranchers, fishermen, paddlers and others who want to protect the state’s water and those who depend on it for their livelihoods. Critics, however, say legalized sports betting has come at a cost — fueling an addiction crisis that the state was unprepared for and is underfunding.

This is the second story in The Denver Post’s three-part series exploring the impact of legalized sports betting in Colorado, including the billions spent on wagers, rising addiction rates, and the impact on athletes and the games they play.

Erin Karney Spaur, executive vice president of the , said she reminds her family members and friends who bet on sports that every time they place a wager, they are helping ranchers like those in Maybell access precious water.

“It¶¶Ňőap exponentially more than we could ever imagine,” she said of sports betting’s impact on ranches and water. “Coloradans like to gamble on sports, and water is the beneficiary.”

‘That’s our ticket’

In 2015, the Colorado Water Conservation Board — at the behest of then-Gov. John Hickenlooper — released a report on how to best conserve and protect the state’s water.

“It made a lot of plans. It set a bit of policy, and it identified two big funding needs,” said , director of western water for the .

The board determined at the time that Colorado needed $100 million per year for projects to improve river and stream health and restoration, to replace the agricultural industry’s aging irrigation systems and to conserve as much water as possible.

“The 2015 water plan put up that price tag and then continued on its merry way,” he said.

But the money wasn’t there.

A consortium of groups with interests in the state’s waterways — including environmental, agricultural and recreational organizations — began meeting to figure out how to fund the water plan. They considered various tax schemes, such as asking the state to put a levy on bottled water or rental cars. But none of their ideas came with an easy path to voter approval — something necessary to raise statewide taxes in Colorado.

“We sat around a table for over a year and a half trying to figure out how to do this, and there were no good options,” Jackson said.

Then, in 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a ruling that offered the answer to funding water projects in Colorado: . That decision overturned the , paving the way for states to legalize sports betting.

“I said, ‘That’s it. That’s our ticket,’ ” Jackson said.

Jackson thought Colorado voters would be sympathetic to the state’s water crisis, caused by decades of drought and climate change. They also wagered that a tax on sports betting would be easier for voters to digest because it would only be paid by those who chose to gamble; if someone didn’t want to pay the tax, then they didn’t have to participate, he said.

The legislature agreed to put it on the 2019 ballot, and voters approved with 51% in favor. The bill established a 10% tax on sports betting companies’ revenue.

“Water certainly pushed it over,” Jackson said.

Sports betting was slated to open in Colorado on May 1, 2020. But the big date was a false start. The COVID-19 pandemic hobbled betting like a quarterback with a bum knee.

“Sports betting was legal, and there were no sports,” Jackson said. “And I thought to myself, ‘What the hell did we just do?’ ”

Gross sports betting revenue in Colorado was $2.6 million, with 25% of wagers placed on table tennis. Tax revenue was just $96,544.

But that freeze on sports did not last, and the gambling money began flowing as rapidly as Clear Creek during the early summer snowmelt.

The revenue stream

Colorado leaders soon realized sports betting was far more lucrative for tax revenues than had been predicted. In the first six years of legalized sports betting, the has reported record-setting figures each year.

“It¶¶Ňőap been hugely successful,” said Drew Peternell, Colorado state director at . “Revenues from sports betting have greatly exceeded any expectations when these mechanisms were put in place.”

By May 2021, when sports betting in Colorado hit its first anniversary, monthly tax revenue hit $635,640 — more than five times what sports wagering had brought in during the same month just a year prior, according to data from the Department of Revenue.

In its most recent report on sports-betting taxes, the department reported it collected $4.4 million in April. The news releases often tout the success of sports betting and the benefits it brings to state waterways. They also include links to , the state’s website for problem gambling resources.

The April tax revenue was 28% more than the amount collected in April 2025, and taxes collected for the current fiscal year through April were at $40.7 million, up 35% over the same period last year.

Thus far, the largest single-month record for tax revenue came in January when the state collected $5 million from $57.8 million in revenue. Coloradans bet $630.2 million, with $119 million wagered on professional football in a month when the Broncos made a run to the conference championship game.

Proposition DD’s 10% tax on net proceeds from sports betting means casinos and companies doing business in Colorado pay the tax after they pay out winning bets and federal taxes.

But the Colorado General Assembly placed a $29 million-a-year cap on sports betting tax revenue when it approved Proposition DD for the statewide ballot. If the state collected more than $29 million each year, the overage was to be refunded to the casinos and licensed gaming companies.

Proposition DD also determined how sports betting proceeds were to be divvied up between programs, with water projects receiving 93% of the tax revenue.

The first projection estimated that sports betting would generate about $16 million annually and that water projects would receive $14.9 million.

Six percent of the tax revenue, or an estimated $960,000, would be set aside in a special fund that would be distributed to Colorado’s three casino cities and other entities that received gaming revenue if they could prove that the new sports betting market caused them to lose money due to decreased bets on traditional gambling and horse racing.

So far, no one has tapped that fund.

Problem gambling would receive just $130,000 annually for establishing a crisis hotline and training for gambling addiction counselors. That amount was increased to $2.5 million annually in 2023.

The Post interviewed seven people whose agencies receive sports betting tax revenue, but only one — Jackson — said they bet on sports themselves. And only one person, who did not want their family’s story to be told publicly, said they sometimes were bothered by the addiction problem because a loved one had died by suicide after gambling away his money.

The tax revenue proved so lucrative that water proponents returned to the legislature to ask for another statewide ballot. This time, which voters approved in 2024, eliminated the $29 million cap, meaning casinos and licensed sports betting companies can no longer receive refunds. And more money will pour into the water conservation fund.

In 2025, water proponents returned to the revenue well again.

This time, they asked the General Assembly to eliminate a clause that had allowed sports betting companies to use their free bet promotions as tax write-offs.

In those promotions, DraftKings, FanDuel and others lure prospective gamblers by offering “free bonus bets” when users apply a promo code advertised on television.

During the NFL’s wild card playoff weekend between Jan. 10 and 12, for example, FanDuel offered a promotion in which bettors would receive $300 when they placed a $5 bet on a game. In the past, FanDuel would have been allowed to write that $300 off as a tax deduction.

But starting in January, that tax deduction was no longer allowed, which means FanDuel and other companies doing business in Colorado pay even more in taxes.

For years, the sports betting companies had argued that losing the tax deduction would force them to pull back on those offers and lead to fewer players, Jackson said. But Colorado watched other states that did not offer similar tax deductions and realized those promotions were still available to gamblers.

“It’s still the primary marketing scheme,” Jackson said. “Colorado was very much an outlier in allowing the deduction.”

Colorado’s water woes

As the planet’s temperature rises, Colorado’s rivers and streams become more threatened by drought.

Last year was for Colorado after the state marked its 10th-warmest year out of 130 years of data, according to the at .  It was the 51st driest year on record, and a swath of northwestern Colorado fell into exceptional drought — the most dire category recorded by the .

And 2026 has brought even hotter and drier weather, with the winter being the warmest on record and snowpack at its lowest levels since records started being kept in 1941.

While drought dries up lakes, rivers and streams, it also impacts almost every person living in Colorado. People live with a shortage of drinking water supplies, irrigation becomes trickier for ranchers, rivers dry up for rafters and fishermen, fish and wildlife struggle, and manufacturers must cope with less water.

Less water also boosts the state’s risk for devastating wildfires and can cause insect infestations or forest diseases to spread.

“Climate change is water change in Colorado, and we need every resource we can to put towards building a more resilient future,” said Lauren Ris, the Colorado Water Conservation Board’s director.

The conservation board intends to help Coloradans address all of those issues with the  through the state’s water plan.

“It primarily focuses on water supply, not water quality,” Ris said.

Projects awarded money during the most recent grant cycle in September included:

• to build a new water storage facility at the Jurgens Reservoir in Weld County that will increase the Lower Latham Reservoir Company’s irrigation supply
• to Adams 12 Five Star Schools to evaluate 54 irrigation systems across 475 acres of irrigated landscape and develop a water conservation plan for the district
• for a Colorado River conservation exhibit at the Confluence Center of Colorado in Mesa County

The water board employs a team of regional grant managers who live and work in the areas they serve. They become familiar with their region’s needs and help decide which projects are worth funding, said Jeannine Shaw, the grants section chief at the water board.

The more organizations applying for a grant together, the more competitive the application becomes, she said. And all of the grants awarded require the applicants to find matching funds, doubling the amount of money available.

And, as more money is spent on sports betting, Colorado can expand its outreach to all four corners of this parched state.

“The difference that makes on the ground is pretty incredible,” Ris said.

In the San Luis Valley, ranchers have long spread water over their grasslands when temperatures start to freeze to create a sheet of ice over the vegetation. As the ice slowly melts during the spring thaw, it seeps into the ground, recharging the water table. It also helps revegetate retired farmland and creates a habitat for wintering birds and wildlife, said Fay Hartman, conservation director for the southwest region of .

In September 2025, American Rivers received a $199,761 grant funded by sports betting to study how the winter ice sheet practice actually benefits the environment. The grant will provide the money for a groundwater study so scientists can collect data by placing groundwater wells at the near Saguache. American Rivers secured $145,956 in matching funds.

There just wasn’t good data on the benefits of creating the winter sheet ice, Shaw said. Different groups wanted to quantify what happens so they would be better informed about the practice and find ways to improve it.

The project, named Frozen Assets, demonstrates the water conservation board’s desire to support innovative ideas for Colorado’s water management, Ris said.

“We’re really able to test some of these theories and use this funding where there is not a whole lot of other opportunity out there to really test some concepts and pilot some things that could have pretty big benefits,” Ris said.

So far, Ris and others who are working to solve Colorado’s water woes believe sports betting revenue is the lifebuoy the state needs to start solving the crisis. It’s not enough, they said, but it’s charting the right course as the state responds to increasing drought, floods and wildfires worsened by climate change.

“We’re thrilled,” she said. “What we really needed was a steady funding stream for water projects, and that¶¶Ňőap what this proved to be.”

READ PART 3 NEXT: Sports betting is changing the game for Colorado’s fans and athletes as big money adds new pressures

Set to launch down a ski slope at Breckenridge, where he was celebrating his engagement with his fiancée and their friends, Everett glanced at his phone before pushing off.

A notification informed Everett that he had just won $55,000 on a $15 fantasy-golf wager on the . The money was in his PayPal account by the time he finished the run.

“That was more than my salary at the time,” he said. “You convince yourself that you’re so good.”

The money was gone almost as fast as Everett, high on dopamine from his big score, flew down that mountain. By the end of the ski weekend, he had blown the entire $55,000: drinks and food for his friends, a gold watch and, worst of all, more bets, including an $18,000 loss with one tap on his phone to bet — incorrectly — on the Big 10 football championship. He did not have enough money to buy gas to get home.

For Everett, the next two-and-a-half years would be “incredibly off the rails.”

“After I lost that money, I couldn’t get it out of my head chasing that,” he said. “I was basically trying to win it all back.”

Colorado, much like Everett, plunged headfirst into legalized sports betting after voters approved it in 2019. Since online sportsbooks opened in May 2020, the state’s residents have bet more than $30.6 billion on the outcomes of games and on the performances of the athletes who played them, netting the state more than $154 million in tax revenue.

But the growing popularity comes at a cost.

Mental health and addiction experts are sounding the alarm about a growing crisis that Colorado was not prepared to handle. The state does not sufficiently fund services for people who become addicted to gambling via the sports-betting apps on their phones, mental health experts say, and there are not enough therapists trained to treat gambling addiction. Colorado also provided little funding to promote awareness about gambling addiction and put limited guardrails in place to help people slow their betting habits.

It’s not clear how many Coloradans have gambling problems. There’s never been a study to determine that, but the results of a national survey suggest that more than 100,000 people in the state could suffer from that mental health disorder.

Jamie Glick, executive director of the , calls gambling addiction the “next big public health crisis.”

“Unfortunately, we are hearing a lot of rock-bottom stories,” Glick said. “People aren’t seeking help until they hit rock bottom. We are seeing people whose marriages are destroyed. They’re financially destroyed.”

Six years after legalization, Colorado is trying to catch up. The General Assembly this spring passed a bill that will put some controls on sports-betting apps, including by limiting the number of daily deposits a person can make. The state also increased the share of tax revenue funneled annually to problem-gambling awareness and prevention.

Gambling companies told The Denver Post they are creating new features to help people limit how much they spend, saying it is in their best interest to retain customers who view betting as entertainment, not a problem. Five sportsbooks stopped accepting credit cards in the past year amid growing criticism that people should not gamble with money they don’t have, and Colorado will ban credit card deposits, beginning in August.

“We want our customers to play with us month over month or year over year,” said Cory Fox, senior vice president of public policy and sustainability at . “If they have a problem, they will be off the platform.”

The Post examined the impact of legalized sports betting in the state by interviewing those involved in the industry and those who regulate it, mental health professionals, the groups who benefit from the tax dollars, athletes and coaches, and the gamblers. The Post also analyzed the money spent to show how much people are wagering, which sports are most popular for betting, and how much revenue sportsbooks are earning.

The first installment of this three-part series looks in-depth at gambling addiction and the attempts to get it under control before it becomes a public health crisis. The second part will examine how water conservation advocates bet on sports gambling to obtain funding to rescue communities and industries dependent on the state’s scarce water resources.

And the final story will explore how betting is changing sports itself as professional leagues embrace sportsbooks as business partners, even as gambling scandals make headlines and athletes report increasing hostility from fans who lose money when players fail to perform.

The launch of sports betting

Colorado was among the early adopters of legalized sports betting when voters approved Proposition DD in November 2019.

The state had moved quickly after the the 1992 , a federal law that had prohibited states from allowing sports betting.

In exchange for legalizing sports betting, Colorado voters agreed that sportsbooks should be taxed at a 10% rate to fund water conservation. That bargain pushed Proposition DD toward a narrow win, and the rushed to put rules in place.

By May 2020, sportsbooks in Colorado were open for business, and amid the COVID-19 pandemic, people found a new avenue for entertainment. Although the pandemic paused major sports in the U.S., including the Kentucky Derby, the NCAA basketball tournament and the NBA season, Coloradans still found sports to wager on.

Bettors spent more than $25.6 million that first month, with the largest percentage of bets being placed on table tennis at $6.6 million.

Table tennis remains one of the most popular sports for Colorado gamblers to bet on, with $989 million wagered since legalization. In April, it was the fourth most popular sport for wagering, with $28.5 million bet on it.

Those who want tighter controls on sports betting cite table tennis wagers in their arguments, saying it’s an example of problem gambling because Americans do not care about or understand ping-pong and only bet on it because it’s played in other parts of the world when most people in this country are asleep.

Professional basketball is the state’s favorite sport when it comes to betting, with $7.3 billion wagered on the NBA and overseas leagues, as of April. The NFL is second, followed by baseball, tennis and NCAA basketball, according to the revenue department’s data.

Sports betting continues to grow year after year.

In April, the most recent month of data available, Coloradans bet $521 million on sports — 20 times more than that first month in 2020. The state raked in $4.4 million in taxes.

, director of the state Division of Gaming, said interest in local sports teams is driving the growth, especially with the Broncos, Nuggets and Avalanche fielding championship-caliber teams.

“It’s becoming more and more exciting to watch our teams here in Colorado,” he said. “Every time we have a lot of interest in sporting events featuring our local teams, we see that continued growth. It’s more accessible with attention and advertising.”

Colorado has a healthy sports-betting market with 13 online companies and 10 in-person sportsbooks, Schroeder said. The goal, he said, is to have the best odds available for the gamblers.

The state also offers a with 5,866 approved events and wagers, ranging from which team will win the Super Bowl to whether someone will get knocked out in the U.S. SlapFIGHT championship to who will win the Chinese Basketball Association’s Club Cup.

At the same time, Schroeder said the state is committed to responsible gaming, which is the term the industry uses instead of gambling.

“We want individuals to bet smart,” he said. “Betting should be entertainment. It shouldn’t be something where you’re adding on a second level to the house by gambling.”

Colorado offers a through which gamblers can ban themselves from online apps and in-person sportsbooks at the state’s casinos. There were 1,245 people on that list as of June 15.

The state also promotes March as and operates the . Each year, the state awards millions in grants to nonprofits that are focused on gambling addiction.

Yet even as sports betting grows, public opinion is becoming more critical.

An found 43% of Americans say sports betting is bad for society, up from 34% in a 2022 poll. Still, 22% of respondents said they had bet on sports in the past year, up from 19% in the prior study.

Chasing the high

It’s impossible to know how many people in Colorado bet on sports, let alone to understand how many might suffer from a gambling addiction. Sports betting companies do not release their data and the state does not conduct public health monitoring of gambling addiction.

Sports betting is prolific among young people, said Evette Marquez, a 26-year-old, diehard Broncos fan.

She learned to gamble on a sports app from an ex-boyfriend and routinely places wagers on her favorite sport — pro football. Most of her friends do, too.

“Everyone is betting these days, especially at my age,” she said. “Some people may not be paying rent.

“I think people my age get stuck on the dopamine. You get that green ticket,” she said, referring to an icon on the DraftKings app that signifies a winning bet, “and it¶¶Ňőap the best feeling.”

That dopamine hit certainly contributes to the addictiveness of gambling, said assistant professor of psychiatry at the .

“It’s something pleasurable like hearing your favorite song or eating chocolate,” she said.

People who become addicted to gambling can naturally have lower dopamine levels, making them crave a high, Hemendinger said. And some people are just hardwired to take risks, and that makes them more prone to gambling addiction, she said.

Researchers have also linked gambling disorders to the parts of the brain that respond to rewards and regulate social behaviors and impulse control, Hemendinger said. But the prefrontal cortex is not fully developed until a person reaches their mid-to-late 20s, making young people more susceptible to impulsive behavior while gambling.

The profile of a heavy sports bettor is a male younger than 35 who is single, employed and well-educated, according to the . And they think sports betting involves skill, not luck, which makes them “prone to distortions in thinking,” according to a coalition summary of sports wagering and addiction studies.

Matt Ferraccio, 38, started gambling in middle school, continuing into adulthood. He found it an escape from other problems in his life.

Ferraccio said he used legal gambling apps as well as the unregulated, overseas sportsbooks and bookies. He took advantage of special promotions, and when he ran out of credit on one, he opened another account.

“A compulsive gambler just doesn’t stop,” he said.

Ferraccio and Everett each talked about “chasing” their losses. Both men said they were never satisfied with a big win. They placed more bets rather than pocketing their winnings, and when they lost, they tried to win the money back — usually losing even more.

“It’s really hard to replicate that feeling you get when you win a lot of money,” Ferraccio said. “It means higher bets and longer sessions. You’re just chasing.”

Gambling addicts can stay awake for days, betting on obscure sports happening in other countries.

“You can log in at 3 a.m. and find tennis that¶¶Ňőap going on in China, ping-pong in Russia, basketball in China, cricket games. The possibilities are endless if you want to be compulsive and keep going, which I did,” Ferraccio said.  “Obviously, you don’t know anything about them, but you just pick.”

Ferraccio always promised himself he would stop once he dug himself out of a financial hole. It never happened.

Unprepared for a crisis

The National Council on Problem Gambling estimates that 9 million Americans have a gambling disorder, which is recognized as a mental health illness in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Brianne Doura-Schawhol, director of the , said a 2023 study by the estimated about 2.4% of the population struggles with gambling addiction, which would mean about 110,000 adults in Colorado suffer from it.

But Colorado never conducted a study to gauge the prevalence of problem gambling before it legalized sports betting, and public health officials have no plans to do one.

“How can you make policy decisions without the proper data?” Doura-Schawhol said.

Colorado also ranks among the worst in the nation when it comes to funding gambling addiction resources, multiple people told The Post. The state law that legalized sports betting established a 10% tax on net sports betting proceeds, but only allocated $130,000 annually to problem gambling.

In 2023, the legislature boosted the annual amount to $2.5 million. Since 2023, the Colorado Division of Gaming has awarded $11.2 million in grants to organizations that raise awareness about addiction and help those who suffer from it.

The state allocated less than a penny per person for gambling services in 2023, by the National Association of Administrators for Disordered Gambling Services.

The bill passed in May did not include additional money for prevention and treatment. And as lawmakers faced down a $1.5 billion budget deficit, there was little room to set aside extra money. The legislature could shift some funds set aside for water to gambling addiction issues, but that has not been proposed.

Nationally, there is no federal revenue stream to support gambling addiction prevention and treatment, even though experts estimate that the social cost of gambling addictions exceeds $14 billion annually in the U.S.

In March, a group of bipartisan representatives in Congress introduced the Providing Opportunities for Individuals In Need of Treatment and Support, also known as the , which would divert a third of federal taxes collected on gambling to awareness, prevention and treatment of gambling addiction. If approved, it would raise an estimated $100 million per year, according to the National Council on Problem Gambling.

But in Colorado, there is no movement to increase funding for gambling addiction, even as the state rakes in tax revenue from sports betting.

Doura-Schawhol said the National Campaign for Fairer Gambling ranks Colorado at the bottom of the 39 U.S. states that have legalized sports gambling when it comes to funding treatment and prevention for gambling addiction.

Liesl Leary-Perez, co-founder of , said Colorado has long ignored mental health problems, and sports betting addiction is now one more thing on the list that needs to be addressed.

“To answer your question of ‘Were we prepared?’ No! We were not prepared,” Leary-Perez said of Colorado’s swift entry into the online sports-betting world. “And no one seems to care because we aren’t increasing that budget.”

When legalized sports betting came online, those who work in the addiction-treatment field were not prepared for clients struggling with gambling addiction.

The , which establishes the best practices for counseling gambling addicts and issues certifications to professional therapists, lists just 17 people in Colorado who have received certification. Only two are practicing in Denver, the state’s largest city.

The Problem Gambling Coalition of Colorado lists 18 counselors who treat gambling addiction and two behavioral health centers that offer telehealth appointments for gambling addiction on its website. And the coalition has developed a four-hour certification program for counselors on college campuses to help them recognize and treat the problem, Glick said.

Daniel Umfleet, founder and chief executive officer of , a behavioral health company focused on gambling addiction, left the United Kingdom to move to Colorado to start up his company after sports betting was legalized in the U.S.

Treatment for gambling addicts is in its infancy in the United States, Umfleet said.

“The unfortunate reality today is there are not enough health systems that understand this and have adopted it into their service mix,” he said. “The infrastructure wasn’t there.”

Ryan Canaday, founder of the in Denver, said he received a warning in 2020 from a doctor who called sports betting the “new dopamine dump,” and recommended his church and its associated nonprofit, which focuses on addiction recovery, prepare for it.

Then more people started showing up, seeking help, and Canaday had to learn what those addicts needed to recover.

“When I heard someone say, ‘Last night I lost $100,000,’ it was hard for me to fathom. I thought, ‘Well, why’d you place that big of a bet? And why couldn’t you just stop?’ and all the questions a rational mind asks,” Canday said, “but this disease of addiction is not rational, or else none of us would be here, right?”

‘Modern-day get-rich-quick scheme’

Arty Smith, a math teacher, last year launched the , a program that teaches teenagers the pitfalls of wagering.

Smith’s lessons on sports betting involve PowerPoint presentations with bar graphs and pie charts as he breaks down how it’s nearly impossible to beat the house.

He gathered data from every NFL game since 1966 and crunched numbers to show that picking the over/under bets — guessing what the total points scored by both teams in a game will be and whether it will be higher or lower than the points total set by the house — is no different than picking heads or tails on a coin toss.

It is a certainty that people lose money in the long run, Smith said.

“It doesn’t matter how well you know the game of football,” he said. “You could be Peyton Manning for all I care, you still won’t be able to pick football games any better than you could pick the outcome of the coin flip.”

On the over/under bet, the house has a 4.5% edge, Smith said. But when it comes to parlays, the house edge jumps to 40%. In a parlay, gamblers wager on multiple things happening at one time.

For the April 30 playoff game between the Denver Nuggets and the Minnesota Timberwolves, offered a “Joker Jackpot” parlay that would pay out if all-star center Nikola Jokic scored more than 30 points, recorded more than 10 assists, grabbed more than 10 rebounds, and hit more than three three-point shots. In gambler parlance, that’s a “four-leg parlay.” A winning bet on a $10 wager would return $70.

The parlays are wildly popular with gamblers because they have higher payouts, and they benefit sportsbooks because they have higher odds and bigger profits.

“It¶¶Ňőap a way for the sportsbooks to take gamblers’ money even faster,” Smith said. “It’s the modern-day get-rich-quick scheme. It doesn’t seem that hard to win the bet.”

Smith developed the Gambling Awareness Initiative after a friend consulted him about how to respond to his preteen son’s request to create an online sportsbook account because the boy was too young to open his own.

“He knew what he wanted to tell his boy about drinking and drugs and unprotected sex, but he was unprepared for the question about gambling,” Smith said. “It occurred to me that we need to talk about this.”

Zach Everett’s love of gambling started as a child at a race track when his father allowed him to pick a horse and placed a bet on his son’s behalf.

He gambled through a bookie for a couple of years in college. In 2018, Everett obtained his first credit card while earning $36,000 per year. Sports betting would not be legal for another two years, but daily fantasy sports were legal and growing in popularity in the U.S.

The daily fantasy sports apps run by DraftKings and FanDuel were not considered gambling because participants played against each other rather than the house. But those games gave both companies footholds in the market before sports betting became legalized, and they continue to reign as the biggest sports-betting companies in the country.

Everett, a self-described “big-time sports fan,” used his new credit card to make deposits into a DraftKings account to enter those fantasy sports contests. But he couldn’t handle winning a big prize.

“My brain couldn’t comprehend it was life-changing money,” he said. “You’re not holding the cash and you don’t have a moment to breathe. It¶¶Ňőap just so fast and then you blink and it¶¶Ňőap gone.”

Sportsbooks and responsible gaming

The sportsbook operators say they take measures to promote responsible gambling, arguing it would be short-sighted to drive people away through increasing addiction.

Lori Kalani, chief responsible gaming officer at DraftKings, said it is in her company’s best interest to establish controls that players can use to limit themselves.

“It¶¶Ňőap the right thing to do,” she said. “If people are out of control and they’re spending money on entertainment that they don’t have to spend, they’re not going to be a happy customer and we’re not going to be a happy business. We want long-term customers. Not only is it the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do.”

At DraftKings, Kalani has a staff of 50 who work on the company’s responsible gaming programs. Those include a budget builder that lets players determine how much they want to spend and how long they want to be on the app. They can set alerts that notify them when they’ve hit their limits.

DraftKings also provides customers with a personal stat sheet they can use to review how much they’ve deposited, how much they’ve wagered, how much time they’ve spent on the app, and even which sports they’ve bet on. It’s like getting a monthly spending report from a credit card company, she said.

Meanwhile, Kalani’s staff also manually reviews individual accounts flagged for abnormal betting patterns, such as a customer suddenly making much larger or more frequent deposits. Last year, 92,000 accounts were reviewed, she said.

When Kalani, who is a lawyer, first took the job at DraftKings, she was surprised by how few people used the various tools that help control time and money on the app. People saw responsible gaming tools as something only those who have problems need, she said.

“I thought that was upside down,” she said. “The whole point is you use them so nothing gets out of control. It¶¶Ňőap a lot of work to change how people think about that.”

Fox, Kalani’s counterpart at FanDuel, said his company also makes an effort to boost participation in the app’s responsible gaming features.

FanDuel’s parent company, , wants 75% of its average monthly players to use its responsible gaming tools by 2030. Individual performance bonuses for employees on his team will be tied to that goal, Fox said.

One tool introduced in the past year by FanDuel is an artificial intelligence program that can quickly detect when a person has deposited an amount that is much larger than that player’s previous deposits on the app. The program then asks the player if they are sure about the amount, Fox said.

A staff of 30 people reviews accounts that get flagged for abnormal betting patterns, and after users threaten customer service representatives or even mention they can’t pay their mortgage. Those employees can send emails with responsible gaming information, put players in time-out, set deposit limits and, in some cases, ban them from the app, Fox said.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done in this field. We are not declaring victory,” Fox said. “We are working hard to figure out the best ways to identify and protect that small percentage of our user base who may be struggling to manage their play on our site.”

While the sports betting companies say they limit problem gamblers, others insist that’s not the case.

Josiah Clarke, 40, is a lawyer and a sports betting sharp — meaning he figured out how to win consistently.

Clarke played fantasy football for years and casually bet on offshore sportsbooks. But when sports betting was legalized in Colorado, and the pandemic gave him a lot of spare time, he decided to “take a real go at it.”

Clarke, who lives in Greeley, built a system of analyzing games and created his own model for statistical analysis. He raised the stakes as his model improved.

He won — and the sportsbooks noticed his winning pattern.

DraftKings was the first to limit him after he won $24,000 over two football seasons, Clarke said. FanDuel followed.

“I’d try to bet like $2,000 on an NFL game, and they’d say you can bet up to $47,” he said. “And I was like, it¶¶Ňőap not worth all the effort I’m putting into it for $47.”

Ferraccio and Everett said no sportsbook ever cut them off, even when it was clear they were gambling too much.

“Responsible gambling from these sportsbooks doesn’t even come close to identifying people,” Ferraccio said. “If they see me spending all night doing it, guess who’s getting the free bet? Guess who’s getting the big promotions? It¶¶Ňőap not the people who are winning.”

Bonus bets are not free money. Instead, gamblers must put something into their accounts first. Gamblers are never allowed to withdraw those “bonuses,” and they expire.

FanDuel’s Fox took exception to accusations that sportsbooks do not actually limit gamblers who show signs of addiction.

“First and foremost, we absolutely identify problem gamblers and prevent them from being on our site any longer,” he said. “Any suggestions that we don’t actually do that on that basis are inaccurate and wrong.”

Doing a lot with a little

Colorado has boosted its addiction awareness and prevention efforts in the six years since sports betting went online.

The state’s Gaming Division funds responsible gaming grants, doling out $3.8 million in March. Those grants were awarded to nonprofits, including the Problem Gambling Coalition of Colorado, which will use its $1.5 million to certify therapists treating gambling addiction, to support a project that works with college students, and to promote gambling addiction awareness.

The , a nonprofit advised by Umfleet, received more than $1 million to work with the military to address gambling addiction within the ranks. He said Colorado is doing a lot of work with little funding, and some efforts are gaining national attention.

“You’re doing it half the speed of what you would prefer,” he said.

In its most recent legislative session, the General Assembly passed , setting some first-in-the-nation standards to control addiction through state law. The law will go into effect in August.

The new law bars gambling companies from sending push notifications to their app users, something that emerging research shows triggers people into betting more. It also restricts advertising from targeting people younger than 21.

The new law will limit gamblers to six daily deposits on an app. But it does not limit the amount a person can deposit, and people can have multiple apps, meaning they still could deposit an unlimited amount of money in a 24-hour period.

The bill was watered down after its sponsors, under pressure from the gambling companies and their lobbyists, struck a provision that would have banned all proposition bets. A prop bet allows gamblers to wager on an individual athlete’s performance, and those prop bets can be rolled into the wildly popular parlays. Colorado already bans prop bets on college athletes.

Sen. Matt Ball, a Denver Democrat who was one of the bill’s bipartisan sponsors, said the new law should put some friction between gamblers and their impulse to place bets.

It was needed, he said, because technology has rapidly changed since Colorado legalized sports gambling, making it easier and faster for people to bet. Industry advertising works, Ball said, because he sees its effect on his preteen son.

“It works on his brain,” Ball said. “He asks me about placing bets. He thinks he can make a big hit, win $100. We need to put reasonable guardrails on sports betting to protect our kids.”

‘There is hope’

Ferraccio has no idea how much money he lost over the years. He said he could go on a winning streak and have as much as $200,000 in his accounts, only to lose it all over again.

“It¶¶Ňőap a lot,” he said. “Everything I’ve ever earned basically.”

Ferraccio placed his last bet on July 1, 2024.

“I was hitting a point where I had nothing but debt and darkness, and it just made me sick,” he said. “When you get to that point, it doesn’t feel like you have a way out.”

Ferraccio was afraid that if he did not stop and get help, he would become part of the statistic that haunts gambling addiction — the high suicide rate.

Multiple studies in the U.S. and internationally have found that people with gambling disorders have higher suicide rates than people suffering from other addictions, such as alcohol. One in five people with a gambling addiction has attempted suicide, according to the National Problem Gambling Coalition.

Ferraccio found help in recovery groups. He formed friendships with other recovered gamblers, and they hold each other accountable.

“There is hope,” he said. “You have to look in the right places. You have to admit you lost control. If you can’t admit you have a serious problem, you’re never going to get right.”

For three years after his big fantasy golf prize, Everett said he gambled so much that he alienated almost all of his friends and family.

He maxed out six or seven credit cards. He burned through at least six payday loans. He ran out of friends and relatives willing to loan money. He pawned a $12,000 TAG Heuer watch that his dad had given him as a wedding present. He wrecked his car — also on loan from his dad — while checking a bet on his phone.

Everett, who worked as a sales director and ranked first in sales for his company, was fired after his boss learned he had asked a client for a loan.

“Getting called into the office that day…” Everett said, unable to finish explaining what happened.

He dreaded telling his wife he had lost his job because of his gambling. She quit wearing her wedding ring.

Everett gambled away his severance. Loan sharks came calling. His first inpatient stay had failed, and support groups and regular therapy were not helping. He considered fraud. He considered overdosing.

So he flew home to Minnesota and the one person who still took his calls — his dad, Brad Everett.

Looking back, Brad Everett said he did not realize that gambling addiction strangles people much like alcohol and drug addiction.

“I didn’t understand why he just couldn’t stop,” he said. “It was a complete lack of understanding. And a complete lack of understanding of how easy it is with your phone and the apps.”

Brad Everett had already flown to Denver multiple times to help his son, crafting lists of people from whom his son had borrowed money. “But it was never the end,” he said.

Brad Everett checked his son into another rehab center in Minneapolis with a warning: If Zach Everett did not complete rehab and stop gambling, he would be financially cut off.

“He’s the most generous man in the world, and it was eye-opening to me to see him get to his breaking point,” Zach Everett said.

Everett placed his last bet on April 24, 2024.

Since then, he said he has kept his promise to his father. He repaired his marriage. He is slowly paying off debts and earning his old friends’ trust. He attends regular meetings with other recovering gamblers.

And he is becoming more comfortable telling his story in hopes of helping others struggling with gambling addiction.

“It’s such a hidden problem,” Everett said. “You’re definitely not alone. I know how scary it is. If you do not address it, it¶¶Ňőap only going to get worse. You’re not going to win yourself out of whatever hole you’re in. You can’t bet yourself out of it.”

READ PART 2 NEXT: How sports betting became Colorado’s ticket to funding $140 million in water conservation projects

Updated 10 a.m. June 18, 2026: This story has been updated to clarify Daniel Umfleet’s relationship to the Kindbridge Research Institute.

CU hosts Texas Tech on October 3. Red Raiders quarterback Brendan Sorsby has no business inside Folsom Field, unless he’s bought a ticket. Presumably with blood money from a three-team parlay that hit a few days earlier.

Sorsby is 22. He’s young. We’ve all done dumb stuff when we’re invincible during those young, dumb isolated moments. Sorsby, though? He’s a repeat offender, dodging accountability as if it were a blitzing linebacker.

According to court documents, the Texas native placed at least 40 wagers on Indiana football while he was a member of the Hoosiers. He reportedly used others’ online sportsbook accounts to place bets totaling roughly $90,000 over four years. He gambled in Bloomington. He gambled as a member of the Cincinnati Bearcats.

Basically, Brendan is the Art Schlichter of Generation Z. Remember Art? One of the great wasted careers in NFL history. Ohio State star. Drafted No. 4 overall by the Colts in 1982. Got the gambling bug as a teenager in small-town Ohio, an addiction that would ruin his life at almost every stop.

If only he had Sorsby’s lawyers. Or some friendly Texas judges.

On Monday, one of those justices, a man named Ken Curry, ruled that the NCAA would be causing “probable, imminent and irreparable injury” to Sorsby if it prevents him from playing this fall. Curry granted the young man a preliminary injunction that prevents NCAA brass from punishing Sorsby for violating — again, repeatedly — its rules on sports betting.

Now let’s get this out in the open first: The NCAA is a rotten, wage-fixing cartel that’s deserved, for years, to feel the wedgies that it’s been getting lately from the courts.

Just not this one. The NCAA was wrong to create the idea of a “student-athlete” as an indentured servant who would have to work sports as a full-time job while never being technically paid for that time and commitment.

Yet it was right to take a hard line on sports wagering, given the audience and devotion to its entertainment product. Much of the NCAA’s enforcement has been selective, arbitrary and occasionally silly. But if you don’t enforce competitive integrity, you might as well give up the ghost.

Now Texas Tech is haunting CU and the rest of the Buffs’ Big 12 peers. Oh, sure, Red Raiders officials will say they’re backing Sorsby to bring awareness and outreach to the cause of mental health, and how dare you shame an addict. Horse hockey. The Red Raiders are digging in their heels because said addict is a 6-foot-3 gunslinger who tossed 27 touchdowns at Cincy last year against just five interceptions while sporting a 140.8 lifetime passer rating as a collegian. If Brendan didn’t have NFL arm, Bubba Bootstraps would shrug and look the other way. Only now that it’s running with the blue bloods, Texas Tech wants back in the College Football Playoff again — and Sorsby is one of those keys that unlocks the penthouse.

“The injunction issued (Monday) regarding Brendan Sorsby is troubling,” new CU athletic director Fernando Lovo said in a prepared statement released earlier this week, “as his admitted actions are a clear violation of long-held standards of integrity in college athletics … this injunction is a clear affront to the competitive principles that have been the foundation of college sports for more than a century. We will continue to engage with the Big 12 Conference and our peers on this issue.”

Why? Tech didn’t consult with any of you when it came to picking up Sorsby, skeletons and all. Last July, the Red Raiders signed a five-star lineman, Felix Ojo, for what was reportedly a three-year, fully-guaranteed $5.1-million contract. Context: The No. 11 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft is slotted to make $5.26 million this fall.

If I’m Lovo, I don’t wait around for Big 12 commissioner Brent Yormark to grow a spine. I cancel anything I’ve got scheduled with Texas Tech, in all sports, until Sorsby is off the roster.

Then I call CSU athletic director John Weber.

How’s this for a twist in the tale? Instead of playing a dirty, tainted Red Raiders squad on Oct. 3, the Buffs should host rival CSU on Oct. 10. Bring back the Rocky Mountain Showdown three years early.

CU keeps that home game — now with potentially a bigger home gate, to boot. New CSU coach Jim Mora gets to tangle with his old pal Deion Sanders and gets a chance to shock the world, and put his stamp on the Front Range, in Year 1.

Before you laugh, look at the calendar. CU and CSU both have concurrent bye weeks on Oct. 10. The Buffs host Utah on Oct. 17. CSU visits Texas State on Oct. 15.

Now, granted, that’s a lousy turnaround for the Rams, given a Thursday nighter on the road. Ah, but lookie here: The Bobcats don’t play a game between Oct. 16 and Oct. 24. As recently as March, Texas State athletics presented the CSU tilt as a flexible date, Surely, CBS Sports Network can find something else to fill that prime-time Thursday night window.

Why not here? Why not now? The Buffs and Rams wrapped up a home-and-home, two-year mini-series in ’23 and ’24 that made Colorado the center of the college football universe. Studio shows from ESPN and FOX were tripping all over themselves for Front Range real estate. The games themselves featured biting coach-on-coach smack talk, sellout crowds and epic performances (Shedeur Sanders in ’23; Travis Hunter in ’24).

Which is why it’s a shame that there isn’t another CU-CSU football game on the docket until September 15, 2029, in Fort Collins. That’s a five-year gap — which would be the longest in the history of the rivalry since it was renewed in 1983. The Buffs and Rams have tussled 34 times in the last 43 years, with CU winning 26 of the matchups.

It’s too good, too juicy, to keep mothballed in the attic for this long. If activist judges are going to burn college football to the ground, you might as well dance in the ashes with the time it’s got left.