By Linda Jones
The amount of taxes the casino industry has poured into Colorado is almost unbelievable. In 19 years, a total of $1,450,328,417 has been collected by the State of Colorado, nearly $1.5 billion! Where would our state be financially without those lucrative pots of money?
In the latest fiscal year, ending in June, Colorado’s mountain casinos generated $96.7 million for historic preservation, community colleges and gaming cities, according to a report released Aug. 26. Two previous years, 2007 & 2008, topped fiscal year 2010, and were the highest-income years for the casinos.
Amendment 50, which went into effect July 2009, requires 78 percent of tax revenues attributable to Amendment 50 go to Colorado’s Community College system. For fiscal year 2010, the Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission ruled $7,930,401 attributable to Amendment 50. Of that total, $6.1 million went to the Community College system. The remainder went to Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek and Gilpin and Teller counties.
So give a tip of your hat to this generous tax-raiser, which also happens to be enjoyable.
Casino workers come from every imaginable background: human relations, construction, actor, clerk, office worker, small-business owner, journalism, the military, chef, security and government worker. The one denominator they share is an appreciation of their current jobs – all enthuse over the fun they find in the gaming business.
Colorado workers are blessed to have this industry in our state, offering a wide spectrum of job opportunities for thousands of Colorado residents. Sure, times are tough for everyone right now, and the casinos are feeling that too. But even in this economic downturn more than 8,000 residents are receiving paychecks from the casinos in the three towns allowed to have legalized gambling. This puts gaming on a par with other major employers in the Centennial State.
The most casino employees reside in Teller County, followed by Jefferson County. Fewer than a thousand casino workers actually live in Gilpin County, but that figure represents a high percentage of the small county’s population, estimated to be about 5,600.
Cheers to you, gambling industry.
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