There were three statewide ballot issues up for vote Tuesday and they failed handily.

Election Results Statewide Issues Aurora City Council Denver City Issues Denver Schools County Results Jefferson County Adams County Arapahoe County Broomfield Denver County Douglas County El Paso County Larimer County Littleton Summit County Weld County Westminster Articles Voters Like Status Quo Smoking Ban Passes Gambling Expansion Plan Crushed Aurora's New Mayor Has Familiar Name

Amendment 33 would have allowed the Colorado lottery commission to install and operate video gaming terminals at five horse and greyhound racetracks, with proceeds funding tourism promotion. Despite the infusion of millions of dollars in TV and radio ads, Colorado voters overwhelmingly rejected the amendment with 81 percent voting no and only 19 percent saying yes.

This is the third time in 10 years that voters have turned down requests to expand gambling beyond the mountain towns where it was legalized in 1990.

The expensive and aggressive campaign saw a record $9.4 million poured into ad blitzes and direct-mail pleas by both sides.

Opponents said the proposal would have given British-owned Wembley USA, Inc. a near-monopoly on gambling in the area. Wembley owns four of the five tracks where the machines would have been allowed.

"This may be the last time that a foreign corporation tries to come into Colorado and spend $6 million or more to buy their way in to convincing us that this is about tourism when it's really about casinos in the major cities," said John Gill with the "No on 33" campaign.

Supporters portrayed the proposal as a way to bolster the stagnant state economy by providing up to $25 million per year to advertise tourism opportunities.

"Colorado already has gambling in this state. We're adding a new game and the voters didn't vote for it this time. Whether it comes back, I don't know. But we, those of us who worked on this, really want to focus on the tourism issue," said Lynea Hansen with "Yes on 33."

Water Bond Measure Sinks

Referendum A also failed 67 percent to 33 percent.

The measure would have allowed water districts, municipalities and private companies to apply for $2 billion in bond money to build new reservoirs or repair or expand existing ones.

The plan was promoted as a way to fight the drought and prevent Colorado River water from flowing to California and Nevada. Opponents called the deal a blank check with little oversight.

The group fighting the referendum considered themselves David going against Goliath because they were significantly outspent in the campaign. The group was a coalition of environmentalists, people on the Western Slope and people concerned with taxes, most prominently Douglas Bruce, author of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights or TABOR.

"I think that the fact that there was an authorization for a large amount of debt -- $2 billion for repayment costs, and up to $4 billion -- I think people were just concerned about saying, 'What are we going to be buying with that amount of money? Where is that project going to be built?'" said Attorney General Ken Salazar, an opponent of Referendum A.

Gov. Bill Owens, who supported the plan and was in Europe on a trade mission, issued a statement acknowledging defeat, but he said the fight is not over.

"There has been no disagreement throughout this campaign that Colorado must take steps to protect our water resources for future generations," Owens said.

Lt. Gove. Jane Norton said it will be back to the drawing board for solutions to the water storage issue.

"I think that the blank check issue certainly hurt us. It was one of resources and 'How actually would we go about doing this? So we needed to do some better education, I think," said Norton.

Property Tax Assessment Stays Same

The other statewide ballot issue, Amendment 32, involves increasing property tax, and voters apparently don't want that tinkered with.

Seventy-seven percent of voters cast ballots against the tax increase.

The proposal would have repealed the 21-year-old Gallagher Amendment, which put a heavier property tax burden on businesses than residential property. (A legislative analysis of the proposal estimated that a typical commercial property owner pays 350 percent more than the owner of a home valued at the same price.) The referendum would have established a flat property tax rate of eight percent.

Proponents said repealing the Gallagher Amendment would help ease state budget problems during tight economic times. But others say the Gallagher Amendment has protected homeowners from skyrocketing taxes all these years.