Gazette, The (Colorado Springs): Economic gambles pay off for gaming city

CRIPPLE CREEK - Despite Colorado's three-year economic slide, this mountain gambling town is on an upswing of sorts.

The city's first standalone casino in eight years opened Friday.

Last year, the Double Eagle Casino expanded to take over a city block and a Starbucks opened in the historic mining town that turned to gambling for salvation 14 years ago.

The town lured other merchants by offering lowinterest loans. It got its first full-service grocery store last year, Cripple Creek Foods. The owners left tiny Brush, where a Super Wal-Mart was opening. Cripple Creek residents no longer have to drive to Divide or Woodland Park to shop.

The city used loans and grants to draw a highspeed Internet provider, massage therapist and coffee shop.

Town officials are seeking an economic development director to continue to encourage growth.

Gambling isn't the only game in town, town officials say.

There's the town's rich past, the majestic views of the Sangre de Cristo and Collegiate mountain ranges, the quirky downtown events and historic melodramas that play in the restored Butte Opera House.

The town hopes to be designated by Congress as a National Heritage Area some day to attract federal funds and other money for preservation and economic initiatives.

"We're progressing," said City Manager Kip Peterson. "We realized a number of years ago that we wanted to expand the economy over gaming. We're trying to market to people other than gamblers.

"We're trying to grow the community. I'm looking at getting a pharmacy here, a car wash, a doctor, dentist. We're getting very aggressive in our need and desire to expand. We want to get away from being totally dependent on gaming."

Still, Cripple Creek is intimately connected to gaming.

Eighty-one percent of the city's $5.7 million general revenues comes from state gaming tax proceeds and device fees. Five percent comes from sales tax.

Gaming certainly helped Cripple Creek during the early 1990s, spurring a huge development boom as casinos set up.

Casino revenues provided preservation money that saved many of the old buildings.

Since gaming was introduced, the town's population has doubled to about 1,200.

Hotels and inns offer about 400 rooms. As many as 450,000 people visit during the summer, mostly to gamble.

When the state's two other limited-stakes gaming towns reported losses in 2003, Cripple Creek's 19 casinos showed slight growth from the previous year -- albeit only $89,000 more. Still, that relatively flat number is significant when considering these facts:

c Black Hawk and Central City, the state's other gaming communities, had larger losses during the same period.

c Colorado has been in a recession.

c Colorado Springs lost a portion of its economic base when 12,000 Fort Carson soldiers were sent to Iraq.

"It was a gain by not losing," Don Burmania of the state Division of Gaming said of Cripple Creek's economic figures.

Gaming revenues for 2004 are up 4.1 percent in Colorado through April and up 2.8 percent in Cripple Creek.

A visit to Cripple Creek on any given day will show signs of an economy in fine shape.

A walk down Bennett Avenue is a noisy affair, punctuated by pinging sounds of casino slot machines. Buses pull in regularly to disgorge crowds bent on playing slots and tables.

Fewer than 10 percent of the town's inhabitable buildings are vacant. A California woman bought five of the empty ones.

City crews are fixing sidewalks and streets as a part of the town's $600,000 annual street improvement project.

Cripple Creek officials might want the town to diversify, but it has plenty of space for more casinos.

About 20 percent of the gaming district that was drawn up when gambling was legalized is occupied.

Wildhorse Casino is the only casino not on Bennett Avenue. It's on Myers Avenue -- a block from casino row -- in the same building that was home to the defunct Jubilee Casino.

Wildhorse has 367 slot machines and four blackjack tables. Owners said they chose Cripple Creek because they got a good deal on the building and the land.

The deal included the adjacent Homestead House Museum, a legendary brothel during the mining town's heyday. The building and furnishings have been preserved for their historical significance.

Owners said they're considering erecting another building in a vacant lot on the other side of the Homestead House, effectively enveloping the historic structure.

That's caused some controversy in town. But owners promise to preserve the brothel.

On a recent weekday before the casino opened, dealers practiced their skills at the table while pit bosses watched and gave subtle instructions.

Co-owner Joe Rivera, a cultural anthropologist who owned a Santa Fe art gallery, spent the day decorating the casino in a Western theme, hanging Western posters, rodeo wear and a large bust of a horse leaping out of the wall.

Rivera said he isn't worried about Colorado's past economic troubles.

All signs point to an economic recovery.

Gambling usually does well in recessions, he said. And Cripple Creek has done well when other towns haven't.

Still, it's a gamble, not only for people plunking coins into slot machines, but also for owners. But he thinks this casino will do fine.

"The (daily) town average is about $95 per slot machine," he said. "If we do the average, we'll do OK."

CONTACT THE WRITER: 476-1623 or jmeyer@gazette.com