Colorado tax gaming revenues to increase over the next year

In July of this year, the state of Colorado passed amendment 50 which gave the states casinos the addition of craps and roulette as well as higher betting limits and longer hours of operation. After one year, gaming regulators have announced that the tax gaming revenue should increase by 10% during the first year of amendment 50.

Gaming regulators had anticipated a gaming tax revenue improvement of 25%, so 10% is a good deal less than the original projections. The 25% projections were made before the amendment was passed and put into effect on July 2nd 2009.

A Legislative Audit Committee held a hearing on September 28th and discussions took place between most of the casino operators of Colorado. The hearing resulted in operators stating that they believe an increase of 8 to 10% is more viable this year than the original 25% projected.

Before the game of craps and roulette were added, along with the other changes, the casinos in Colorado had seen a drop in revenue of 9% and the gambling tax revenues had dropped 12%. So it seems as though the additions will at least get the casinos back to their original earnings if not somewhat more than before they experienced the large losses.

2009-10-30