The 23-year old gambling industry in Cripple Creek, Colorado is looking forward to better days. During fiscal 2003-2004, casino gambling generated 0.7 million from 4,806 gambling machines. Fast forward a decade and 3,943 gambling machines plus 70 table games have taken in 2.9 million. Now the city has launched a .5 million effort to rebuild historic Bennett Avenue with wider sidewalks, better traffic lanes, bump-outs and new road surfaces. Taking Manitou Springs as its model, city officials hope a more welcoming urban environment plus more events will boost summer tourism.
Mike Chaput, who with Marc Murphy own Bronco Billy’s, the city’s oldest casino, said, “We all have pretty much the same games, and your chances are pretty much the same everywhere, so it comes down to customer service. Marc Murphy and I come from a hotel-restaurant background, not the casino industry, so that’s what we’re good at.” Bronco Billy’s also is one of Cripple Creek’s biggest casinos with more than 700 slots and 12 table games.
Casino gambling also is legal in Black Hawk and Central City, Colorado.
