~ by Bob Volpe ~

Colorado: Legal. Colorado became the 19th state to legalize betting and as of May 1, 2020 multiple operators allowed residents to open accounts online and place wagers. In some states, casinos are restricted to 'riverboats', large multi-story barges that are, more often than not, permanently moored in a body of water. Online gambling has been more strictly regulated, however. The Federal Wire Act of 1961 outlawed interstate wagering on sports but did not address other forms of gambling. The 1992 law at issue in the case bars state-authorized sports gambling with exceptions for Nevada, Montana, Oregon and Delaware, states that had approved some form of sports wagering before the.

As towns sprouted in the 19th-century American West — outside Arm forts, at river crossings along wagon trails, in mining districts and at railheads — some of the first structures built were recreational facilities. Recreation for the almost totally male population inevitably meant the triple-W vices of the frontier: whiskey-drinking, whoring and wagering.

Saloons, brothels and gambling halls would appear almost overnight. In the early camps, the structure might be only a lantern-lit, dirt-floored tent, the bar simply a board stretched between two whiskey barrels, the prostitution facility just a cot in a wagon bed for the use of a single female strumpet, and the gambling outfit only a rickety table, a few chairs and a greasy, dog-eared deck of cards.

As the towns grew and prospered, these primitive facilities were replaced by one-story wooden buildings with false fronts to make them appear even larger. And if the community developed into a city, saloons were housed in imposing brick buildings with ornate bars, huge back-bar mirrors and brilliant chandeliers. Some brothels became elegantly furnished parlor houses with attractive ‘boarders’ managed by madams whose names were famous throughout the West. The best-known sporting men of the West presided over and patronized gambling houses that were often the most impressive and elaborately accoutered structures of the cities.

The popularity of gambling in the West can be attributed mostly to the fact that all who left the relative safety and comfort of the East to seek fame and fortune on the frontier were, in a sense, natural-born gamblers. In the early West, gambling was considered a profession, as legitimate a calling as the clergy, the law or medicine.

Leadville, 10,000 feet high in the mountains, blossomed almost overnight into the largest city in Colorado, and at one point its boosters attempted to wrest the state capital away from Denver. At its peak, gambling opportunities were afforded in more than 150 resorts ranging from small saloons to elaborate theaters and concert halls.

Some of the better known were Tom Kemp’s Dance and Gambling Hall, which in 1879 featured vaudeville song-and-dance star Eddie Foy; the Texas House, where proprietors Bailey Youngston and ‘Con’ Featherly
provided a dozen faro tables around the clock; and ‘Pop’ Wyman’s Great Saloon, in which a large sign over the bar read: ‘Don’t Shoot the Pianist — He’s Doing His Darndest.’

Most of the leading Western gamblers, including Ben Thompson, Bat Masterson, Luke Short and Doc Holliday, spent a good deal of time — and money — in Leadville. There is a story that after dropping more than $3,000 at faro one night there, the volatile Thompson in a fury turned over the table, jerked out his six-shooter and shot out all the lights, sending panic-stricken patrons scurrying for the exits.

Holliday, suffering one of those streaks of bad luck and near poverty that plagued all gambling men, shot another sporting man named Billy Allen in Leadville in a dispute over a mere $5

As time went on and western towns became “more civilized” in the Christian-Judeo sense of the word, American laws fluctuated, making gambling illegal, much to the pleasure of the Puritan folk. As the years went on, legalized gambling gathered more support, and various states began accepting the development of state regulated casinos.

The rebirth of Colorado gambling

Colorado gambling enthusiasts were greatly pleased in November of 1990 when casino operators made their way into Colorado. Voters supported the legislation to legalize casino gambling in Colorado, and in 1991 the law was officially passed. The guidelines came along with a limited stakes rule, holding all bets to a maximum of $5, and an ‘adult only’ law requiring Colorado casino gamblers to be at least 21 years of age.

Colorado state government legalized casino gambling in three towns – Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek. Each of these towns is considered National Historic Districts. The purpose of this legislation was to preserve the history of these towns and to help them to foster more economic development, with the assistance of Lady Luck. Prior to limited stakes gaming, all three of these towns were in dire shape.

In 2009, the state’s casinos increased betting limits to $100, added new games and began operating 24 hours a day. In addition to the excitement of gambling, each destination offers fine dining, luxurious hotels and, most importantly, authentic slices of history. Casino revenue has helped preserve and restore the towns’ 19th-century charms, as well as more than 600 other historic properties across Colorado.

In Cripple Creek, after several years of declining gaming revenue, due to wildfires and flooding that made travel to the city difficult, the city petitioned the state Dept of Revenue to allow them to serve
alcohol 24 hours a day, instead of the long held tradition of stopping alcohol service at 2 a.m.

Nine casinos won approval to serve alcohol 24 hours a day, making Cripple Creek the latest Colorado city to embrace around-the-clock liquor sales in gambling halls.

Gamblers from Denver Colorado traveling toward Central City will find Black Hawk first, along the route, therefore making it more convenient to place their wagers at Colorado’s Black Hawk casinos. For this reason, Black Hawk has acquired the highest revenue in Colorado casino gambling, amongst the three towns. In an effort to increase revenue and compete with Black Hawk’s significant casino gambling business, Central City has financed an exit directly off Interstate-70 near Idaho Springs. The 4-lane Central City Parkway exit would give travelers substantially less driving time to reach Central City’s Colorado Casinos, while at the same time taking them off the path to
Black Hack.

Another draw for gamblers to visit Colorado’s Central City casinos is the true preservation of national history. Black Hawk’s casinos, on the other hand, have opted for a more glamorous style, constructing their casinos with a glitzy style more akin to Las Vegas. This trend is accentuated by Black Hawk’s 30-plus-story Ameristar resort, a project that changed the face of Colorado gambling.

Cripple Creek is considered to be the middle-man in regards to development, straying more from the historical aspect than Central City, yet avoiding the lights and flamboyance of Black Hawk casinos.

Residents of Colorado frequent the casino gambling facilities, but being a major hot spot for tourists, especially those who come to ski the majestic slopes of the Rockies, Colorado gambling revenue is significantly increased by those vacationing in the mile-high state.

Future lodging boom?

As the popularity of gaming in Cripple Creek has rebounded with a vengeance, following some lean years, as a result of wildfires and flooding that made travel to the city difficult, four of the largest casinos in town are planning to build hotels in the next few years that could double the number of rooms available in the gambling town west of Colorado Springs as it celebrates the 26th anniversary of legalized gambling. This trend is part of an overall effort for the town to become more of a recreational and entertainment destination area.

American Gaming Group LLC, Century Casinos Inc., Full House Resorts Inc. and Triple Crown Casinos Inc. all are planning to add rooms to help solve a lodging shortage in Cripple Creek, which has just 450 rooms for customers of its 12 casinos and other visitors to the historic mining and gambling mecca. Those rooms boast an occupancy rate of more than 90 percent – by comparison, Colorado Springs-area hotels averaged 64.8 percent last year – and sell out for special events that frequently lure thousands of visitors to the city, said Steve Kitzman, Cripple Creek’s director of marketing and special events.

Plans last year were approved for the renovation and expansion of the old Palace hotel, a revered gem since the gold rush boom, located on Bennett Avenue. The historic hotel property is currently owned by Century Casinos. Although the project has been put on hold temporarily, the proposed rebirth of the Palace has commanded much attention and appeared to stimulate more interest in lodging ventures in Cripple Creek.

The planned hotels and expansion come as Cripple Creek’s gaming industry is on a roll – revenue collected by the city’s 12 casinos in the first half of the year was up 3.3 percent from the same period in 2015 to $63.6 million and increased last year by 3.7 percent from 2014 to $128 million, according to the Colorado Division of Gaming.

When Did Gambling Become Illegal In Colorado Springs

Last year’s annual increase was the first since 2012 and just the second since 2009. Casino profits in Cripple Creek last year were up 22.7 percent to nearly $6 million, just the second profitable year for
the industry since 2008. The industry lost more than $60 million from
2008 to 2013.

Still, even with a return to better times, the local gaming industry is operating with considerably fewer devices and games, with a nearly 30 percent decline in Cripple Creek’s gambling lineup since 2008. This has put a strain on city hall, which collects most of its revenue from betting device fees. As a result, the city is exploring the possibility of a lodging tax to help generate more money for special events/marketing and economic and community development. Officials believe that the town’s future prosperity and gaming health hinges on bringing more visitors into town.

A popular old saying in Colorado is, “If you don’t like the weather, stick around 15 minutes.” This alludes to the fast changes in weather patterns that often occur in the state.

One could apply the same saying to gaming in Colorado. Changes take place often and quickly and usually for the benefit of patrons of these establishments. Local gamblers, visitors and even residents are the big winners of Cripple Creek’s great gaming movement.

Molly Bloom (born April 21, 1978) is an American entrepreneur, speaker,^[1]author of the 2014 memoir Molly's Game. She had trained for years to become an Olympicskier, but was injured while trying to qualify for the Olympics.

In April 2013, she was charged with running a high-stakes poker game that originated in the Viper Room in Los Angeles, which attracted wealthy people, sports figures, and Hollywood celebrities.^[2] In May 2014, after pleading guilty to reduced charges, she was sentenced to one year of probation, a $1,000 fine, and 200 hours of community service.^[3] In addition, she was required to forfeit $125,000 in earnings from the games she operated.^[3]

A film adaptation of her book, Molly's Game, starring Jessica Chastain and directed by Aaron Sorkin, debuted in December 2017.^[4]

Early life[edit]

Bloom was born on April 21, 1978, and grew up in Loveland, Colorado. Her father, Larry Bloom, is a clinical psychologist and a professor at Colorado State University.^[5] Her mother, Char, was a ski and snowboard instructor and a professional fly-fisher with her own line of clothing.^[6] Bloom's father is Jewish and her mother is Christian.^[7] Her brothers are Jordan Bloom, a surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Jeremy Bloom, who was an American Olympic skier and professional American football player with the Philadelphia Eagles.^[8] She was a competitive skier and at one time ranked third in Nor-Am Cup for women's moguls skiers; she later suffered an injury while trying to qualify for the Olympics.^[9] She attended the University of Colorado Boulder, where she graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.^[10]

Poker game[edit]

In 2004, Bloom moved to Los Angeles and found work as a barmaid. In 2004, Darin Feinstein, one of the co-owners of The Viper Room nightclub, was approached by actor Tobey Maguire about hosting a high-stakes poker game in the basement of the club. Feinstein recruited Bloom to cater to the players and manage the game. In 2007, Bloom started her own business, registering Molly Bloom Inc. as an event and catering company to host poker tournaments.^[11] By 2008, the games had graduated to private homes and hotels like the Peninsula Beverly Hills, with hands going as high as $4 million.^[12] In addition to Maguire, many wealthy individuals, celebrities and sports figures were known to frequent the games including Leonardo DiCaprio, Alec Gores, Macaulay Culkin, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Alex Rodriguez, Nelly, Mary Kate Olsen, Ashley Olsen, Phil Ivey, Rick Salomon and Andy Beal.^[13][14][15] The onset of the 2008 recession made underground poker games less common, and in 2009, Bloom moved to an Upper West Side high-rise near Manhattan's Lincoln Center. She began organizing games in a private apartment at the new Astor Place and suites at the Plaza Hotel, which used the same sophisticated dealing equipment used in casinos, and which were staffed by women hired from 1 Oak, an exclusive nightclub. However, Bloom had fewer contacts in New York, where raids on underground games prompted them to relocate to Long Island. As a result of this, Bloom attracted rich businessmen from Wall Street but also more disreputable gamblers whose bids were significantly smaller than those in Los Angeles. In June 2010, Bloom was served with a $116,133 tax lien for failing to pay appropriate taxes on her New York events.^[13]

Arrest and sentencing[edit]

In 2011, one of Bloom's games in Los Angeles was shut down as part of a bankruptcy investigation into a Ponzi scheme run by Bradley Ruderman, one of the players.^[16] Bloom, who had received money from Ruderman as part of the game, was accused of receiving $473,000 from Ruderman's bank to settle his debts and sued by the bankruptcy trustee for $473,200, but she denied that she was involved in organizing illegal gambling.^[16] Bank records showed 19 transfers to Bloom in 2007 and 2008 for amounts up to $57,500.^[13]

On April 16, 2013, Bloom was arrested and charged along with 33 others as part of a $100 million money laundering and illegal sports gambling operation.^[2]Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, charged 12 people with racketeering. Others were charged with money laundering, extortion, fraud and operating illegal poker rooms in New York City. Bloom, who was 34 at the time, faced a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, six years of supervised release, a fine of $1.5 million or twice the amount gained from the crimes or twice the amount lost by victims, and a $200 special assessment.^[17][18]

In May 2014, Bloom pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was sentenced to one year of probation and 200 hours of community service.^[19] At the sentencing, Bloom's lawyer, Jim Walden, told the court that Bloom was in severe debt which included forfeiting $125,000 in poker proceeds as part of the plea.^[3] He stated that Bloom had 'been ordered into the gambling business' by her boss at a Los Angeles real estate company,^[3] then went on to create her own illegal poker game in New York in 2009.^[3]

Book and film[edit]

Bloom's memoir about her experiences, Molly's Game, was published in 2014.^[20]

A film adaptation of the book, also called Molly's Game, written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on September 8, 2017.^[21]Jessica Chastain plays the role of Molly Bloom.^[22] The film received a 2018 Academy Award nomination in the category Best Adapted Screenplay.^[23]

References[edit]

1. ^'How to Create An Authentic Customer Experience, According to Poker Entrepreneur Molly Bloom - Business101.com'. Business101.com. 2018-06-19. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
2. ^ ^abNancy Dillon; Robert Gearty; Daniel Beekman (April 17, 2013). 'Feds take down high-stakes poker, sports booking ring used by A-list celebs, Wall Street fat cats'. New York Daily News. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
3. ^ ^abcdeGregorian, Dareh (May 2, 2014). 'So-called 'Poker Princess,' implicated in $100 million gambling ring, ducks jail time, gets probation'. Daily News. New York, NY.
4. ^Ray Rahman (August 14, 2017). 'Aaron Sorkin on Directing His First Movie With 'Molly's Game''. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
5. ^Nate Day (March 8, 2017). 'New book-to-movie adaptation has connection to daughter of CSU faculty'. Rocky Mountain Collegian. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
6. ^Charlie Meyers (February 25, 2006). 'Bloom to appear at sports show'. The Denver Post. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
7. ^Bloom, Nate (November 22, 2017). 'Hollywood's Celebrity Jews - Movies and more'. The Detroit Jewish News. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
8. ^Pullen, John Patrick (March 2013). 'World-Champion Skier Jeremy Bloom's Unconventional Path to Entrepreneurship'. Entrepreneur. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
9. ^'Molly Bloom – Cup Standings'. FIS-ski.com. International Ski Federation. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
10. ^John Wenzel (August 27, 2014). 'Molly Bloom's 'Game' reveals stacked deck of ambition, drama in world of high-stakes poker'. The Denver Post. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
11. ^Robert Kolker (June 30, 2013). 'Manhattan Fold 'Em'. New York Magazine. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
12. ^Seth Abramovitch (September 10, 2017). 'Hollywood Flashback: In 2008, Molly Bloom Was Tinseltown's Poker Queen'. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
13. ^ ^abcHaddon, Heather (July 10, 2011). 'The queen of secret celeb poker'. New York Post. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
14. ^Italiano, Laura (2018-01-03). 'How the underground 'Poker Princess' managed to school Hollywood bigs'. New York Post. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
15. ^LandShark (2013-08-08). 'Hollywood's Elite Exposed in Gambling Crackdown, Guilty Plea Entered - PocketFives'. PocketFives. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
16. ^ ^abDuke, Alan (June 23, 2011). 'Celebs play high-stakes poker in Beverly Hills hotels, lawsuits say'. CNN. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
17. ^'Manhattan U.S. Attorney Charges 34 Members and Associates of Two Russian-American Organized Crime Enterprises with Operating International Sportsbooks That Laundered More Than $100 Million'. FBI (Press release). April 16, 2013. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
18. ^Santora, Marc; Rashbaum, William K. (April 16, 2013). 'Agents Raid Gallery in Carlyle Hotel in Gambling Probe'. The New York Times. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
19. ^Rich Calder (May 3, 2014). ''Poker princess' gets probation for role in $100M gambling ring'. New York Post. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
20. ^Bloom, Molly (June 24, 2014). 'Her House of Cards'. Vanity Fair. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
21. ^Debruge, Peter (September 9, 2017). 'Film Review: 'Molly's Game''. Variety. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
22. ^''Molly's Game': Film Review TIFF 2017'. The Hollywood Reporter. September 8, 2017. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
23. ^'Oscar Nominees Writing Adapted Screenplay Nominee'. Retrieved March 14, 2018.

External links[edit]

When Did Gambling Become Legal In Colorado

• Molly Bloom on IMDb