City files lawsuit claiming RCI is violating SOB regulations

City files lawsuit claiming RCI is violating SOB regulations At the time, Langan said he planned to open a casino with a nightclub and steakhouse in the three-story building that once housed Joey Scarlett’s Casino and, before that, a Bullwhackers Casino. How ever, in June 2024, Langan announced that he had with drawn his application for a ca sino license with the Colorado Division of Revenue.

ments for any Sexually Oriented Business that wanted to open.

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kind of sexually oriented busi ness, that regularly violates the licensing requirement, the hours regulation, and conduct restrictions.” It also cites com pany advertising, in which “Rick’s Cabaret describes itself as “a premier three- story destination combining upscale dining and world- class adult entertainment.” Additional documentation on the local businesses’ website describes the place as the “Strip Club in Central City.”

In the past two years, RCI has been the sub ject of several lawsuits involving its nightclubs in Texas, Denver and New York. The larg est of these occurred in September 2025, when New York Attorney Gen eral Letitia James filed a lawsuit that indicted Langan and four other RCI executives. James and a grand jury con cluded that RCI engaged in a “multimillion-dollar criminal tax fraud and bribery scheme … to avoid paying over $8 million in sales taxes to the state and New York City between 2010 and 2024.”

Mayor Jeremy Fey is the only remaining city alderman in office who voted to sell the building. He later came under public scrutiny after accepting a free trip with Langan aboard RCI’s jet to the company’s headquarters in Houston. The two, who acknowledged a friendship, also attended an NFL game between the Hous ton Texans and the Denver Broncos in RCI’s private box. Langan also provided Fey with a sales-based lease for a storefront purchased by RCI at 127 Main St.

Because the entertainers inside the building “regularly expose their buttocks, bare female breasts, and often their pubic regions, both on and off-stage,” Rick’s Cabaret is considered a “Sexually Ori ented Business” under Central City’s Land Development Code, the lawsuit alleges. “Yet, defendants [RCI] violate the SOB Code by allowing enter tainers to expose specified anatomical areas when they are not on a permanent and non-movable stage. Defen dants’ entertainers regularly engage in the “fondling or other erotic touching of hu man genitals, buttocks, anus or female breasts” (a specified sexual activity) with other en tertainers as well as patrons.”

The lawsuits are be lieved to have prompted Langan to step down from his role as RCI’s CEO and President in November.

Following the initial pub lic complaints in 2024, Fey recused himself from all council discussions related to RCI. However, in 2025, Fey changed his mind and again began participating in RCI- related discussions.

Last summer, several Central City residents and council members continued to oppose Rick’s Cabaret, saying it didn’t meet zoning regulations and raised concerns about morality and safety, including the type of clientele it would attract to the city, which relies on Gilpin County for sheriff’s patrol deputies since the city disbanded its police department nearly a decade ago.

After RCI purchased 130 Main Street and several ad ditional buildings in Central’s History Downtown Gaming district, Langan and Reese be came regulars and frequently attended community events. The Council appointed Lan gan to a seat on the Central City Downtown Development Authority. Around the same time, Reese was elected to the board of the Central City Busi ness Improvement District.

The corner of Spring and Main streets and the Central City Parkway has been the site of controversy in Central City for three years after RCI and Eric Langan bought the property from the city and announced it would be a casino with a nightclub and steakhouse.

RCI and its related compa nies, along with Langan and Reese, are required to re spond to the lawsuit within 21 days if they are in Colorado; within 35 days if they are out of state.

litigation related to the RCI situation.

and December. The lawsuit was filed one week after coun cil’s final meeting of 2025 on Dec. 16.

On Nov. 4, Central voters delivered council a clear mes sage against changing the city code, voting 153-113 to keep existing regulations in place. Since then, council hasn’t publicly discussed the issue at its meetings in late November

A court date will be sched uled after the defendants respond to the lawsuit.

(Editor’s note: RCI In terim President Travis Reese didn’t respond to the Weekly Register-Call’s request for comment or a response to the lawsuit.)

However, in September, Fey succeeded in winning a 3-2 council decision to place a referendum on the Nov. 4 ballot, asking voters whether the council should change the city code to allow Sexu ally Oriented Businesses to operate on Main Street.

* * * Despite the city’s lawsuit, Rick’s Cabaret continued to advertise its Christmas Day hours and New Year’s Eve events on its local website and Facebook pages. The business describes itself as “Central City’s top-rated gentlemen’s club,” open from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. Thursday through Sun day. It also advertises on three city-owned billboards along the Central City Parkway.

In August 2024, RCI sued Central City in a federal court in Denver after the council upheld an administrator’s decision regarding the Rick’s building. The company dropped the lawsuit a year later, after Rick’s Cabaret and Steakhouse opened in late June.

City files lawsuit claiming RCI is violating SOB regulations

Patrick Henry Sweeney

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City files lawsuit claiming RCI is violating SOB regulations

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