State to launch new games, limits on Thursday

At the Colorado Grande Casino in Cripple Creek, the last security cameras are being placed over the roulette table.

At Bronco Billy's Casino, gamblers are laying wagers on blackjack table in the new table games pit.

At the Wildwood Casino, general manager Kevin Werner is planning a pajama party to welcome the changes taking effect at the stroke of midnight Thursday morning.

That's when the first dice will tumble on the craps tables, the roulette wheel will spin, and bettors will lay down Cripple Creek's first $100 wager. Like the stakes, anticipation is high and a lot is riding on the state's Amendment 50 bet.

The changes Colorado voters approved by a wide margin in November could make Colorado's three gambling towns destination attractions, high altitude Vegases drawing in the high rollers. At the very least, casino owners and workers are counting on the new games and limits to reverse the slide that started last year.

"It's history," said Eric Rose, general manager of the Colorado Grande. "It's the biggest thing to happen to Colorado gaming in 17 years."

Even before the first dice drop, Amendment 50 spurred a wave of hiring as the casinos scrambled to bring on more dealers and enough staff to stay open 24 hours a day, another change the amendment allowed. Two of Cripple Creek's casinos, Bronco Billy's and the Triple Crown group, teamed with Pikes Peak Community College to run a series of dealer classes this spring. About 150 students graduated from the class, said Gary Findlay, a casino consultant who helped set up the program.

"We think (the changes) will add 300-500 jobs in the whole town," he said.

Statewide, the Colorado Gaming Association said casinos hired more than 750 employees and spent more than $3 million upgrading their table games.

At the Colorado Grande, that meant building a 1,300-foot addition to house a roulette table and a pair of blackjack tables, plus an all-night coffee bar to keep patrons caffeinated in the wee hours. Rose saved the 110-year-old bricks knocked out to build the addition and plans to give them away as souvenirs on July 2.

Casino workers are ready to celebrate after a year and a half of the worst declines in the industry's history since gambling was legalized in 1991. Casinos blame the decline on the state's smoking ban and the economic recession. Cripple Creek as a whole has fared better than Black Hawk and Central City, with year-over-year revenues rising for three months this year before seeing declines in the last two months. Because the Wildwood Casino opened last May and added 700 new slot machines to the market, however, even those relatively positive numbers leave individual casinos taking smaller shares of the pie.

"I certainly expect to get back what we lost and then start growing from there," Rose said.

Werner, the Wildwood's manager, is hoping Amendment 50 bumps revenues up 10-15 percent, but he said it's no panacea for gaming's problems.

"The real solution for the industry is a better economy," he said. "But this is great."

The July 4th weekend is always one of the busiest of the year, so however crowded Colorado's gaming towns are, it won't be a reliable indicator of the road ahead. It will take months before the town has a gauge on how successful the changes will be, said Dan Baader, Cripple Creek's mayor.

"As far as how it shakes out, that's the No. 1 question," he said. "Now we'll see if it bears fruit."

Long-term, Cripple Creek hopes the gaming changes bring development to the city, said Bill McPherson, Cripple Creek's city administrator.

"If this thing goes and goes real good, I would imagine that some of our vacant former buildings will rapidly reoccupy," he said. "A lot of them have the bars and things in them and are pretty much ready."

There's already a smattering of new investment in town. The old Black Diamond Casino is being remodeled into a restaurant. Down on Bennett Avenue, Cripple Creek's main street, Ralf Bock was at work on a recent afternoon remodeling a storefront for his wife, who plans to open the Gold Camp Bakery in the next couple of weeks. She hopes to land some contracts from the casinos, Bock said, and lure a few gamblers in between bets.

"What we heard from other towns (that raised limits) was that there was a boom in the beginning, then it slowed down," Bock said.

Don Daniel, who owns the Rocky Stop T-shirt shop in downtown Cripple Creek, said his business relies more on visiting families than on gamblers. He doesn't think the changes will mean much for him, and he wonders if they'll have the impact on the casinos many people are predicting.
"The first month or two, it will work out, but it will fade," he said. "I just don't see it working, although I hope it does for them."

Whether it works depends in large part on whether gamblers are willing to wager bigger bets on the new table games. Lou Gutierrez, director of table games at Bronco Billy's, thinks they will be.

"Every time we open it up for people (for practice sessions), it's packed," he said. "People are very much interested and excited about this."

Findlay, who helped to start the dealer school, said he's proud of his work. At midnight Thursday, he'll be at a craps table to watch the action.

"I want to go up there and see what I helped create," he said. "I can't wait to go up and see them do some live games and be a proud papa."