Colorado § 44-30-509 - License - disqualification - criteria.

§ 44-30-509. License - disqualification - criteria.

(1) The commission shall deny a license to any applicant who is disqualified for licensure on the basis of any of the following criteria:

(a) Failure of the applicant to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the applicant is qualified in accordance with the provisions of this article 30;

(b) Failure of the applicant to provide information, documentation, and assurances required by this article 30 or requested by the commission, failure of the applicant to reveal any fact material to qualification, or the supplying of information that is untrue or misleading as to a material fact pertaining to the qualification criteria;

(c) Conviction of the applicant, or any of its officers or directors, or any of its general partners, or any stockholders, limited partners, or other persons having a financial or equity interest of five percent or greater in the applicant, of any of the following:

(I) Service of a sentence upon conviction of a felony in a correctional facility, city or county jail, or community correctional facility or under the supervision of the state board of parole or any probation department within ten years prior to the date of the application, notwithstanding the provisions of section 24-5-101;

(II) Service of a sentence upon conviction of any misdemeanor gambling-related offense or misdemeanor theft by deception in a correctional facility, city or county jail, or community correctional facility or under the supervision of the state board of parole or any probation department within ten years prior to the date of the application, notwithstanding section 24-5-101;

(III) Service of a sentence upon conviction of any misdemeanor involving fraud or misrepresentation in a correctional facility, city or county jail, or community correctional facility or under the supervision of the state board of parole or any probation department within ten years prior to the date of the application, notwithstanding the provisions of section 24-5-101;

(IV) Service of a sentence upon conviction of any gambling-related felony or felony involving theft by deception in a correctional facility, city or county jail, or community correctional facility or under the supervision of the state board of parole or any probation department, notwithstanding the provisions of section 24-5-101;

(V) Service of a sentence upon conviction of any felony involving fraud or misrepresentation in a correctional facility, city or county jail, or community correctional facility or under the supervision of the state board of parole or any probation department, notwithstanding the provisions of section 24-5-101;

(d) Current prosecution or pending charges in any jurisdiction against the applicant, or against any person listed in subsection (1)(c) of this section, for any of the offenses enumerated in subsection (1)(c) of this section; except that, at the request of the applicant or the person charged, the commission shall defer decision upon the application during the pendency of the charge;

(e) The identification of the applicant or any person listed in subsection (1)(c) of this section as a career offender or a member of a career offender cartel or an associate of a career offender or a career offender cartel in a manner that creates a reasonable belief that the association is of such a nature as to be inimical to the policy of this article 30 and to gaming operations. For purposes of this section, "career offender" means any person whose behavior is pursued in an occupational manner or context for the purpose of economic gain, utilizing such methods as are deemed criminal violations of the public policy of this state. For purposes of this section, "career offender cartel" means any group of persons who operate together as career offenders.

(f) Refusal to cooperate by the applicant or any person who is required to be qualified under this article 30 with any legislative investigatory body or other official investigatory body of any state or of the United States when the body is engaged in the investigation of crimes relating to gaming, official corruption, or organized crime activity;

(g) The applicant, or any of its officers or directors, or any of its general partners, or any stockholders, limited partners, or other persons having a financial or equity interest of five percent or greater in the applicant is or has been a professional gambler as that term is defined in article 10 of title 18.

Source: L. 2018: Entire article added with relocations, (SB 18-034), ch. 14, p. 187, § 2, effective October 1.

Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 12-47.1-510 as it existed prior to 2018.

ANNOTATION

Annotator's note. Since § 44-30-509 is similar to §12-47.1-510 as it existed prior to its 2018 relocation to this section, relevant cases construing that provision have been included in the annotations to this section.

Constitutional. Gambling is a privilege, not a right, so federal due process rights are not affected. Assuming that an applicant has a sufficient property or liberty interest in the license so that a due process claim can be asserted, the restrictions to licensing in this section are reasonably related to the proper goal of assuring both honest gaming and the public perception that the gaming is honest. In addition, this reasonable relationship to a legitimate state interest is sufficient to result in the statute withstanding a claim that it is unconstitutional on its face as a violation of equal protection. DeMarco v. Gaming Control Comm'n, 855 P.2d 23 (Colo. App. 1993).

Commission has statutory authority to consider any criminal history of an applicant that could be inimical to the purposes of the Limited Gaming Act, including an examination of a criminal record of seven arrests, conviction of three misdemeanors, and deferred sentences on two other misdemeanors. Moya v. Colo. Gaming Comm'n, 870 P.2d 620 (Colo. App. 1994).