By Linda Jones
Before Colorado approved Amendment 4 to allow Limited Gaming in Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek, this is what the center of Black Hawk looked like. Photo courtesy of the City of Black Hawk
Oct. 1, 1991, was the Big Day. Media and press came from across the nation to photograph the beginning of Limited Gaming in three mountain mining communities in Colorado: Central City, Black Hawk and Cripple Creek. Central City was considered the prize at that time because of its nationally-known opera festival and tourist appeal. Black Hawk was the unknown, rundown town tourists drove through to visit Central City. Amendment 4 was born and nurtured in Central City as an answer to the need for funds to restore the incomparable Victorian architecture. Both Black Hawk and Cripple Creek were only written into Amendment 4, allowing Limited Gaming, when their towns’ leaders requested they be included and agreed to come up with their shares of the funds necessary to mount a campaign to win over voters.
Colorado’s voters had overwhelmingly approved Amendment 4 in November 1990, despite the hostility of Gov. Roy Romer to the new business. The appeal of casinos within a short drive of the state’s largest cities was undeniable.
In Central City, the Smaldone brothers owned a casino in the 1930 – early 1950 era. Photo courtesy of Gilpin County Historical Society
Amendment 4 imposed strict limits on the new casinos: bets over $5 would not be allowed, casino hours were limited to between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. and only three games were allowed – poker, slots and blackjack. The original plan of the amendment’s Central City writers was that only 35 percent of the square footage of a building would be allowed to contain gaming. They envisioned a few slots sitting in all the shops, bars and restaurants. That dream was crushed when the enabling legislation was written, stating that only the actual square footage under slots or tables would be included as gaming. That allowed all the other necessary areas that accompany gaming, such as aisles, cashiers cages, offices, customer service desks, restrooms, ATM machines, break rooms and food service areas to be counted in the 65 percent non-gaming, with the result that buildings could be 100 percent casinos.
Central City 2011 has eight casinos and tons of shops and restaurants to keep everyone in the family busy and happy. Photo by Linda Jones
On that anticipated First Day of Gaming – Oct. 1, 1991 – only seven casinos were open. More would open during October, but only seven were open on that notable day: the Teller House Casino, Long Branch, Baby Doe’s, Annie Oakley’s and the Gilded Garter in Central City; and the Gold Mine and Wild Card in Black Hawk. Long Branch wasn’t certified by the Division of Gaming to open at 8 a.m. that day and by the time they were allowed to open, shortly after 10 a.m., a huge crowd blocked Main Street waiting for the key to turn.
On that historic day, two of the biggest supporters of limited gaming were mayors of the host cities: Bruce Schmalz in Central City and Bill Lorenz in Black Hawk. Remember those early years? Coupon books were given out freely, children could frequently be seen nodding beside a slot machine and parking was in remote parking lots served by shuttles. Silver tokens were minted by each casino that could be used in any of the casinos in town, bringing a new job to the area. A company was started, employing several people, to collect from each casino the “foreign” tokens, count them and return them to the proper casino. All the casinos in both Black Hawk and Central City were small and in historic buildings.
But the potential was obvious. The original owners, mostly local, were courted with attractive offers from casino corporations, which then built larger casinos, mostly in Black Hawk. Parking garages were built adjacent to individual casinos, and the casinos themselves now included multiple restaurants, including fine-dining establishments.
Ameristar is the largest of the casinos and hotels in Black Hawk and is very noticeable when you enter the town.
Children sitting bored or sleeping on the gaming floors while their parents gambled were an irritant to many gamblers in the early years. One such gambler was a state legislator who proposed legislation, adopted in 2002, which prohibited anyone younger than 21, already prohibited from gambling, from even “lingering” in a gaming area. Several casinos then began banning anyone younger than 21 from entering, while others allow those younger than 21 to patronize their restaurants or hotels, but prevent them from entering the “gaming floor.” Look on the casino doors for the individual casino policies.
Bullwhackers built a wonderful indoor children’s play area, which was a favorite of local and visiting children, but the facility’s revenue didn’t support it. After it closed, the casino moved its offices into the cavernous building behind the casino. Easy Street opened an arcade in its basement, which is still open today. The access to it is through an outside door into an elevator that accesses only the arcade.
When Colorado allowed casinos they were still a rarity, but other states swiftly followed. The $5 limit began to discourage gamblers and Amendment 50 was adopted by the state’s voters on Nov. 4, 2008. This more reasonable law allowed all casino games, including craps and roulette, allowed 24 hours of operation and allowed bets up to $100 IF the individual gambling cities’ voters approved. All three cities adopted these new regulations, which took effect on July 2, 2009. Amendment 50 helped minimize the sting of the more stringent no-smoking rules the state legislature approved on July 2, 2006.
The gaming business employs thousands of people in the state that include jobs with full benefits. Many visions of golf courses, theme parks and planned communities around the gambling cities have crumbled through the years, but a large apartment complex and a condominium community have been built near Central City and annexed into the city.
Lodging, once non-existent, is now plentiful in the Gilpin County communities, with hotels in Century Casino, Fortune Valley, Isle Casino Hotel Black Hawk, Lady Luck, the Lodge and Ameristar. The top-rated entertainment once presented in the large ballrooms included in the Riviera and the Isle casinos is now history; those ballrooms were phased out in favor of office space and larger restaurants respectively. But top bands appear regularly on weekends in the bars of the large casinos.
Family activities can be found with little effort too. In the summer, many museums and tours are available in Central City and one of these, Washington Hall, stays open year-round. The guide there will, when asked, give tours beyond the summer season of the Teller House, Opera House and Thomas House. A mine tour is open in Central City in the summer and a working mine, the Hidee, just a few miles outside Central City is also open in the summer for tours.
Despite the common misconception, there are still shops in Central City. The biggest collection of artists’ creations imaginable is in the Mountain Menagerie on Main Street. Approximately 60 artists display their various skills in this Main Street building across from Easy Street. Just a few feet down Main Street is Bevy Sue’s Emporium. Shoppers will find an antique store, the Visitors Center and Ermel’s Thrift Store on Eureka Street across from the Teller House.
Outdoor enthusiasts can find many hiking and biking paths, often on right of ways created for the historic railroads. Railroad enthusiasts particularly enjoy exploring the original Gilpin Tram right of way, and mining historians treasure the many mine drainage tunnels in and around Central City. Four campgrounds are close to Black Hawk and Central City: the Dory Hill Campground, KOA campground and two in the national forest, Columbine and Cold Springs. The bonanza of old mining roads makes for memorable four-wheeling and hiking, and visiting the historic cemeteries is popular year-around.
Plentiful employment within the county is a definite benefit of this boom. The county’s population has grown since 1991, although slowly, as the residents clearly want slow and measured growth. Gaming and property taxes have benefited the county as well as the cities. The county now offers a state-of-the art recreation center, a new justice center and a wonderful library. Perhaps the biggest gain to the county is increased income for the school district. Black Hawk passed a small sales tax in 2008 that goes 100 percent to the Gilpin District School. Since the tax inception in January 2009, the school has received an extra $1,510,725 above and beyond property tax revenue. In an era of school budget-slashing across the state, the county’s small school, less than 400 students from K-12, is expanding teacher salaries, teacher training and classroom amenities.
Gaming brought many changes to Gilpin County, without a doubt, but the history of the county is one of booms, busts and booms again.
