Colorado’s Cripple Creek casinos reported stronger than anticipated numbers for the first month after the 12 properties reopened from a three-month lockdown due to Covid-19.
The casinos say more customers showed up than anticipated and that business was up over the same period in 2019. Business is limited to slot machines as table games remain closed. Most casinos are operating about half of their slots.
Eric Rose, general manager of the Century Casino Cripple Creek, told CDC Gaming Reports, “Slots revenue are up over last year, while food and beverage revenue is down a bit with table games closed. I believe that is a result of pent-up demand and people making the day drive here since they are not traveling to other places on vacation.”
To add to that excitement, the Wildwood Casino opened the city’s first sportsbook July16 at Woody’s Sports Bar & Grill, which won’t stop serving food, but will also take bets. Up until now wagers have been accepted through the Wildwood’s online platform.
Wildwood General Manager Matt Andrighetti told CDC Gaming Reports, “We’re excited to welcome sports betters to the premier of our sportsbook. It’s been a long wait getting to this day with the pandemic cancelling sporting events, but we’ve made it.” He added, “We had a space that was a great location for sports betting and it was underutilized, so we remodeled, put some money into equipment (a wall of 13 television monitors) and new menus. We will have our soft opening on Wednesday with a more formal opening on July 23, when baseball season begins.”
The state’s casinos collected $25.5 million in online and mobile wagering, despite there being few sports to bet on yet, such as Korean baseball and table tennis.
The state has licensed 25 online operators and 19 retail sports betting operations.
Casino representatives have been meeting with Teller County Health Department officials to seek permission to reopen table games.
