Are we calling a public health risk ‘entertainment’?

Are we calling a public health risk ‘entertainment’?

Re: “Bill would ban prop bets on sports apps,” Feb. 27 news story

Colorado lawmakers are once again debating sports betting policy, focusing largely on regulation and revenue.

Those conversations matter. But another question deserves equal attention: Are we watching the rise of the next public health crisis and calling it entertainment?

Sports betting today looks familiar. Tobacco was once marketed as glamorous before we understood its harm. Social media was celebrated for connection before we reckoned with its psychological effects. In both cases, adoption moved faster than awareness.

Now consider modern gambling. It is available 24 hours a day, in every pocket. It is aggressively promoted across broadcasts and social media. It is designed for seamless engagement, with instant deposits, live bets, and constant notifications.

And the group most exposed? Young men.

Scroll through YouTube or Instagram, and you will see big wins and high-energy reactions. What you will not see are the losses, debt, anxiety and shame that often follow.

When something is always within reach, marketed as identity and success, and engineered to keep users coming back, it stops being just a hobby.

This is not about banning gambling. It is about acknowledging design, psychology, and impact, especially at a time when young men already face rising mental health challenges.

As Colorado weighs the future of sports betting, revenue should not be the only metric that matters.

Brandon Zelasko, Denver

Gambling, prostitution, drug use, unrestricted abortion? ‘Wake up, Colorado’

What is the moral and values foundation for the State of Colorado in 2026? With the passing of Amendment 79 in 2024, Colorado has one of, if not the most, unrestricted abortion laws on record. The passage of Proposition 122 in 2022 expanded the opportunity to purchase and decriminalize psilocybin. Amendment 64 (2012) allowed Colorado to become the first state to legally purchase recreational marijuana. In 2020, Colorado legalized sports betting, and in 2025, more than $6 billion dollars was wagered.

Now, Senate Bill 26-097 is being introduced to recommend that Colorado become the first state to remove criminal penalties associated with prostitution.

My assumption in passing these amendments and propositions is that hey, it’s your life and body, do whatever you want with no accountability and responsibility for others. Is this the message we want to pass along to the children growing up in Colorado? It is not the message I want to send to my granddaughter.

Wake up, Colorado! Try to be an example for the country rather than a state that is void of any moral foundation.

Gregory Wells, Fort Collins

TABOR is a protector, not a monster

Re: “TABOR is terrorizing Colorado’s townspeople,” March 4 commentary

State Rep. Sean Camacho misreads his audience when he suggests we should drive the Taxpayers Bill of Rights out of Colorado like Frankenstein’s monster.

TABOR, a constitutional amendment passed by voters in 1992, has been quite friendly to taxpayers since its inception. It is very flexible, allowing voters to override its restrictions by popular vote. When tax-and-spend liberals like Camacho are unable to persuade voters to give them more tax revenue, they cry foul and seek to change the game, rather than playing by its rules. We should be pleased that Camacho’s efforts failed in 2025. Even his fellow Democrats realized the folly of discarding a crucially important governmental safeguard.