Las Vegas-based Full House Resorts announced construction will start by the end of the year on a – million, 6-story, 150-room, 4-star hotel in Cripple Creek, Colorado, adjoining Bronco Billy’s Casino and Hotel. The expansion also will include a spa, 500-space parking garage, convention and entertainment areas and an upscale restaurant. Expected to be completed within three years, the Bronco Billy’s hotel project will be the first new hotel to be built in Cripple Creek in more than a decade.
Full House officials said the hotel will be constructed on a recently purchased 6-acre site, including the historic 12-room Imperial Hotel, which would be reopened.
Full House President and Chief Executive Officer Daniel R. Lee said, “We paid $30 million for Bronco’s Billy’s two years ago and that was just the start. We’ve spent almost a year assembling land and designing a project that will provide a luxury experience and complement the unique historic nature of the town. We believe it will help transform Cripple Creek into a stronger, year-round tourism destination. We will be bringing a different level of customer to Cripple Creek than is there today. If we have a nice hotel, I believe we will get a good return on our investment and create a renaissance so others will also build hotels and we will see a synergy develop.”
Currently Cripple Creek does not offer a high-end hotel. “Cripple Creek only has approximately 500 guest rooms and many of those are of mediocre quality,” Lee said. He noted the new hotel would offer quality and amenities at a AAA 4-diamond level and its restaurant would be the first in Colorado to earn at least a 1-star rating from the Michelin.
Lee added Full House believes the Colorado Front Range, particularly the southern area, offers significant growth potential. “The gaming spend per capita today in the region is significantly below the national average and far below other markets with similar demographics and geography. We think that reflects the lack of non-gaming amenities being offered,” Lee said. He added the Denver/Colorado Springs area is experiencing strong population and economic growth. He believes the Colorado Springs area from which Bronco Billy’s and Cripple Creek’s other casinos draw most of their customers is ready to support an upscale hotel and restaurant
Lee said Full House makes $5 million annually in income from Bronco Billy’s; gaming generates $20 million for the city of Cripple Creek. The Ameristar in Black Hawk makes $70 million and Black Hawk makes $200 million.
The city of Cripple Creek will close a street and part of a public alley to accommodate Bronco Billy’s hotel, parking garage and convention and meeting space. A transportation study by Felsburg Holt & Ullevig indicated closing those thoroughfares would not significantly impact traffic flow.
One of the two surviving Cripple Creek casinos that opened when gaming was legalized in 1991, the Bronco Billy’s complex includes three casinos with more than 800 slot and video poker machines, poker, blackjack, craps and roulette tables, a 24-room hotel, a steak house and several other restaurants and an outdoor amphitheater.
Chad Beynon, an analyst with Macquarie Research, said the plans for Bronco Billy’s make Full House Resorts “the most creative gaming company nobody ever heard of.”
