County collects $95k from gamblers behind on child support

Nearly $95,000 has been collected from the jackpots of El Paso County gamblers who owe child support, thanks to a state law that went into effect a year ago, the El Paso County Department of Human Services said Wednesday.

Under the law, the names of those who win $1,200 or more at Colorado casinos are searched in a central database to see if they have back payments due for child support. If they're flagged, their winnings are automatically placed in an account for whomever is owed the money.

The collections are a small part of the $156 million that parents owed in child support in the county as of September, but every bit helps, said County Commissioner Sallie Clark, liaison to DHS.

“This is just another tool that counties are able to utilize to assist families toward self-sufficiency,” she said. “This makes a tremendous difference to the families who are finally able to receive some financial support.”

Last year, El Paso County collected $42.5 million in total child support payments through a private contract with Policy Studies Inc. Contracting the service to a private collection agency has enabled the county to reduce the collection cost to local taxpayers and increase the amount of overall collections, Clark said. Last year’s amount was the largest ever collected, and for the past two years, El Paso County collected the most in child support payments of any county in the state.