Moffat Tunnel lease approved; Gilpin officials continue pressure for train stop in Rollinsville

Don Ireland • 720-217-1310

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BH gaming results surpass previous March records

economy, CDOT highway proj-

ects, and potential snowstorms,

making gaming-industry

pundits apprehensive about the

impact these factors would have

on Colorado casinos during

March.

As it turned out, the prog-

nosticators’ concerns were

unfounded, as Black Hawk’s 15

casinos set a record for casino

revenue during the month,

according to newly released fig-

ures from the Colorado Depart-

ment of Revenue.

Black Hawk’s casinos re-

ported a 3.87-percent increase

in AGP for March. AGP is short

for Adjusted Gross Proceeds,

which is the difference between

the amount wagered by patrons

and the money paid to winners.

The $2.878 million in tax pro-

ceeds surpassed results from

previous years, including the

most recent figure reported

for March 2024.

Black Hawk’s collected

gaming taxes also en-

abled the state to announce

a 4.87-percent increase over

the previous March, translat-

ing into $4.676 million in new

Colorado revenues. This figure

included a 12.74 percent AGP

increase in Cripple Creek and

a decline of 0.25 percent in

Central City.

The March results narrowed

Black Hawk’s slight decline in

its performance for the cur-

rent Colorado fiscal year (July

1 through June 30). In the first

nine months of the current state

fiscal year, Black Hawk’s AGP

has decreased by 0.64 percent,

or -$4.076 million.

Colorado has experienced

a cumulative increase of 0.95

percent during the first nine

months of the gaming year,

amounting to a $7.763 million

upswing. This rise is attributed

to the revival of Cripple Creek’s

performance following the

approval of two large casino-

resort hotel projects by city

leaders. In December 2023, the

300-room Chamonix opened

next to Bronco Billy’s casino on

East Bennet Avenue, injecting

new life into a city that had seen

several small storefront casinos

close over the past decade.

Industry observers say the

Chamonix and the 100-room

Golden Nugget and Hotel (for-

merly the Wildwood Casino)

have attracted increased visi-

tors by offering a higher level of

restaurants and accommoda-

tions that previously were

found only in such Black

Hawk properties such as the

Monarch Casino Resort Spa,

Ameristar Casino Resort Spa

and Horseshoe Casino-Hotel.

While Black Hawk and

Cripple Creek have posted rela-

tively consistent gaming results,

Central City hasn’t been as

fortunate. During the first nine

months of the current gam-

ing year, Central’s six casinos

have experienced a 2.9 percent

decline in AGP, representing

$1,742 million less than one

year earlier. It is the second

consecutive year that gaming

results have dwindled in the

community.

City leaders have been in

discussions with two prospec-

tive developers who wish to

construct larger Monarch-

type casino-resort properties;

however, no construction plans

have been submitted to Central

City.

During the Gilpin Board of

County Commissioners’ meet-

ing last week, County Manager

Ray Rears noted that the stabil-

ity of Black Hawk’s gaming

results is unlikely to adversely

impact Gilpin leaders when

they plan their 2026 budget

later this fall. He reported that

Central’s gaming figures have

continued to slide in recent

years. “I don’t expect any major

concerns,” he said regarding

the casino-tax funding for the

county.

Jeff Aiken, who previously

worked as a bartender at two

Main Street casinos before be-

coming a county commissioner

in January, said he’s seen the

decline. “In general, it’s been

slow in Central City. It’s been

slow for a few years,” he said.\

The Gilpin County Sheriff’s Office is issuing this advi-

sory due to recent reports of suspected mailbox tampering

throughout our community.

The sheriff reported that a deputy discovered a bank of

mailboxes that had been tampered with, and mail was strewn

across the ground near them. The deputy managed to iden-

tify most of the mail and returned it to the correct mailboxes.

Additionally, there was an Amazon package from which the

contents had been removed.

“Protecting your personal information and property is one

of our top priorities, and we are asking all residents to stay

alert and take proactive steps to help prevent mail theft and

mailbox vandalism,” according to the sheriff’s department.

“We also encourage residents to consider installing outdoor

cameras where appropriate and to connect with neighbors

to form community watch groups. These simple but effective

steps can go a long way in deterring criminal activity.”

Anyone who believes they have been a victim of mailbox

tampering or mail theft should contact the Gilpin County

Sheriff’s Office at 303-582-5500.

The Ants Go Marching One by One

I’ve had an annoying

children’s song stuck in

my head for a week now.

Maybe you know it.

ing one by one, hurrah,

hurrah.

ing one by one, hurrah,

hurrah.

The ants go marching

The little one stops to

And they all go march-

ing down to the ground

To get out of the rain,

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Now it’s probably stuck in your head too. I’m

not sorry. Misery loves company.

If you’ve ever had the wherewithal to listen

to the entire song, you know that after nine

long verses, the ants go marching ten by ten

and the little one stops to say, “the end.” And

we all breathe a sigh of relief that it’s finally

over.

I’ve been humming that little ditty ever

since I saw a dark spot at the top of my stairs.

Upon closer inspection, I saw that the spot was

moving. Closer still and I saw that it was a pile

of ants. I’m no ant expert, but I assumed they

were sugar ants. And they were crawling all

over each other like very tiny pigs at a very tiny

trough.

I disposed of them and did some investigat-

ing. Reinforcements—or reinforcemANTS—

seemed to be marching hurrah, hurrah, from

a crack near my front door. And there were a

few ants on every step all apparently climbing

toward the trough at the top of the stairs. I was

impressed. Those itty-bitty creatures climbing

all my steps is like me climbing Devils Tower

seven times—without climbing gear.

The next day, I found another little heap

of ants in the hallway. And a few days later I

found one in my basement. I had to wonder

what could be so enticing that they’d conquer

Devils Tower seven times to get to it? I have

been known to snack throughout the house

but I can’t remember ever doing it on the top

step or in the middle of the hallway or by the

treadmill in the basement.

And why now? We’ve never had so many

ants visit before. Then it occurred to me. May-

be the ants were coming all this way in “ant-

icipation” of, well, hairball medicine. It doesn’t

seem very ant-like but the timing is right.

I used to give my cat hairball medicine by

putting a dab of it on my fingers and letting

him lick it off. He fell for it every time. Then

one day, I opened a new tube—the same brand

and the same flavor. But he turned up his nose

at it.

Since then I’ve had to administer the gooey

medicine by smearing it on the top of his paws.

Being a self-cleaning mechanism, he does

eventually get it down. Or at least, some of it.

But first he runs through the house flicking his

paws trying to remove it.

This explains why you see little blobs of

hairball medicine here and there around our

house. I like to think it also explains why ants

have trekked to such random spots in our

house. Either that or my husband has taken to

snacking while seated on the top step, in the

middle of the hallway and by the treadmill in

the basement.

It’s all just theory. I don’t even know if sugar

ants go for tuna flavor. Or if they get hair-

balls. But if they do, I hope that before they

go “marching down to the ground” for winter,

they clean up all the medicine my cat has flung

all over the house.

Dorothy Rosby is an author and humor columnist

whose work appears regularly in publications in the

West and Midwest. Y ou can subscribe to her blog

at/uni00A0www.dorothyrosby.com or contact at www.

dorothyrosby.com/contact.

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Moffat Tunnel lease approved; Gilpin officials continue pressure for train stop in Rollinsville

Patrick Henry Sweeney

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