{"id":29929,"date":"2024-01-04T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-04T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/gambling-is-on-the-rise-in-colorado-so-are-efforts-to-prevent-addiction\/"},"modified":"2024-01-04T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T13:00:00","slug":"gambling-is-on-the-rise-in-colorado-so-are-efforts-to-prevent-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/gambling-is-on-the-rise-in-colorado-so-are-efforts-to-prevent-addiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Gambling is on the rise in Colorado. So are efforts to prevent addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Slot
Slot machines in the Monarch Casino in Black Hawk. (Hart Van Denburg\/CPR News)<\/span>Hart Van Denburg\/CPR News<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These days it\u2019s not so limited.<\/p>\n

The industry has rapidly expanded thanks to a large new hotel resort in Black Hawk and constitutional changes to the gambling laws, eliminating Colorado\u2019s strict betting limits and adding table games like baccarat.<\/p>\n

Table games and slot machine proceeds were $1.1 billion last fiscal year, up 30% from the 2018-2019 fiscal year, according to state figures. State tax collections last fiscal year were $173 million, that\u2019s $48 million more than in 2018-2019.<\/p>\n

That means less money going to Las Vegas, said Sean Demeule, General Manager at Ameristar Casino Resort Spa Black Hawk.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the new offerings, with the continued investment by the industry in Colorado, with these new games, with these new limits, there\u2019s absolutely more reason for Coloradans to stay in Colorado, play in Colorado, keep those tax dollars here in Colorado.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slot machines are still dominant, but table games are growing at twice the rate of slot machines in Colorado, thanks to the elimination of the $100 betting limit and the addition of baccarat in 2021, when voters approved Amendment 77.<\/p>\n

Baccarat is an important new game for Colorado casinos, bringing in an entirely new customer. The origin of baccarat is contested by scholars, but there\u2019s evidence that its roots go back to 15th-century Italy. Napoleon played a version of the game. It\u2019s now popular around the world, but it\u2019s dominant in Asia, accounting for most of the floor space in Macau casinos.<\/p>\n

Sports betting, now in its fourth year in Colorado, has also seen substantial growth, particularly for the casino\u2019s bottom line. This October, sports wagers brought in $47 million, after player payouts, a 30% increase from the same month last year.<\/p>\n

Colorado, long a top market for Las Vegas, is now better positioned to compete for those gamblers. Amenities help too, including the expansion of the Monarch Casino Resort Spa in Black Hawk was completed in 2021, hundreds of new rooms.<\/p>\n

David Farahi was the Chief Operating Officer for Monarch during the construction and opening of the new hotel and casino.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can bring a Vegas-quality asset with Vegas-quality games to Colorado, we will steal trips from Las Vegas and we will grow the pie for the state of Colorado, and every indication is that has happened,\u201d said Farahi, who left the company in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u2018Whenever you have an expansion of gaming \u2026 you\u2019re going to have an expansion of problem gambling\u2019<\/p>\n

Farahi is now an adjunct professor at the University of Denver, and he serves on the board of Kindbridge Behavioral Health, which offers programs to help people suffering with gambling addiction, what the industry calls \u201cproblem gambling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever you have an expansion of gaming,\u201d Farahi said. \u201cEspecially one that is going to put sports betting in people\u2019s pockets, through their phones, you\u2019re going to have an expansion of problem gambling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kindbridge was awarded a $264,265 grant from the Colorado Division of Gaming, to create an implementation strategy for treatment of \u201cgambling disorder.\u201d The grant was part of $1.6 million handed out for various problem gambling initiatives as part of a state law, passed in 2022.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear currently the exact size of the problem in Colorado, but Farahi said generally only five percent of gamblers develop a problem. Still, it\u2019s important to invest to help them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are enough people that can have a healthy relationship with gambling for the industry to have a robust business,\u201d said Farahi. \u201cWe do not need to be predatory.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state gave more than $1 million in grants to the Problem Gambling Coalition of Colorado, to create a drop-in center for people struggling with addiction and various awareness and education programs.<\/p>\n

Peggy Brown is president of the Coalition, and has been with the organization for years. She said they used to have virtually no financial resources \u2013 she said Colorado\u2019s investments in problem gambling are the largest in the state\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo longer can we have our heads in the sand,\u201d Brown said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got an issue here. We have a problem here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown was once a compulsive gambler herself, she knows how it preys on the minds of addicts. \u201cOne more flip of the card or spin of the roulette wheel or an all-in bet at the poker table can change your life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The Coalition used to maintain a self-exclusion list, and casinos could voluntarily participate. Now the state has taken over the list, and casinos must participate.<\/p>\n

\u201cA very small percentage of guests develop a gambling problem,\u201d Christopher Schroder, director for the Colorado Division of Gaming, said. \u201cBut we want to make sure that we give those individuals the resource they needed to make sound decisions and educated decisions for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

A gambler can exclude themselves for years at a time. Their access to the sports betting apps are shut off and aren\u2019t allowed to play in the casinos. Offers from betting companies must stop.<\/p>\n

The Problem Gaming Coalition of Colorado has fielded some reports from gamblers on the self-exclusion list who continued to get mail and offers from casinos.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that there\u2019s always going to be accidents that happen. When we discover those accidents and those concerns, we work with those operators to ensure that that is prevented in the future,\u201d Schroder said. He said when it comes to mail, there can be a slight delay.<\/p>\n

On top of taking over the exclusion list and handing out grants to addiction resources, the state has hired a responsible gaming manager, reviews responsible gaming plans from operators, assists guests too.<\/p>\n

\u201cColorado is really leading the nation in that kind of model,\u201d said Farahi, the former casino executive. \u201cWhich I think is absolutely fantastic, and I think that more states will follow suit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

machines in the Monarch Casino in Black Hawk. (Hart Van Denburg\/CPR News)Hart Van Denburg\/CPR News These days it\u2019s not so limited. The industry has rapidly expanded thanks to a large new hotel resort in Black Hawk and constitutional changes to the gambling laws, eliminating Colorado\u2019s strict betting limits and adding table games like baccarat. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[120,1253,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-29929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado","tag-gambling","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29929"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=29929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}