COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — Colorado's online sports betting generated nearly $19 million in tax revenue during the first 11 months of 2025, money that directly funds water conservation projects across the state.
The Colorado Department of Revenue report shows those tax dollars go to the Colorado Water Conservation Board, a state agency that issues grants for water conservation projects throughout Colorado.
Some of that funding has supported major improvements to waterways in southern Colorado, including a $7 million erosion control project along Fountain Creek near Colorado Springs.
Just south of Colorado Springs, the east bank of Fountain Creek had eroded to within 10 feet of Southmoor Drive near Fountain before the Fountain Creek Watershed District intervened with help from the water board.
"The creek eroded all this area to about 10 feet from the roadway," said Bill Wysong, Fountain Creek Watershed District board chair and county commissioner.
The erosion resulted from decades of flooding that carved away the creek's banks.
"That dirt from the floods in 2000 and earlier just kept eroding the banks," Wysong said.
The solution involved moving 350,000 tons of dirt and rock to create a flood management area that redirects the creek's flow away from the road. The project was completed last summer with nearly $200,000 from the Colorado Water Conservation Board in 2025. The board contributed more than $700,000 total to the effort.
"If we can control as much as we can to keep the erosion down, keep it within a defined bank system for as many miles as we can develop, it will have less impact going downstream," Wysong said.
The project addresses just one section of Fountain Creek's 71-mile journey to the Arkansas River. Additional work is planned upstream where Monument and Fountain creeks meet.
Chris Lieber of Pikes Peak Waterways said his nonprofit received $150,000 for research on improvements to the Monument Creek stretch.
"We look to Pikes Peak, and we're proud of that. We look to Garden of the Gods. What if we have that same value and tie and connection to our creeks someday?" Lieber said.
The Monument Creek area shows signs of ongoing water quality issues, including debris and sandbars.
"We can address flood issues. Water quality issues. Ways the community can access the creek," Lieber said.
The projects demonstrate how sports betting revenue supports interconnected watershed improvements, with work upstream and downstream contributing to overall flood control and water quality throughout the region.
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