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They introduced a national lottery in 1982 that allowed the development of land-based casinos not only in bigger cities, but also in smaller ones such as Cripple Creek, Central City, and Black Hawk. Utes also received permission to operate brick-and-mortar casinos on tribal land of Colorado.
When talking about online gambling, Colorado doesn’t have such a clear stance. In May 2020, the state legalized online sports betting. This is an immense step forward for the online gambling framework in the US. The West has officially opened its gates.
You would think that meant online casinos are next in line. However, at the moment, there is no word about legalizing and regulating the online casino industry in Colorado. Officially, if you go through the legal documents of the state of Colorado, you wouldn’t find that online casinos are illegal. Or legal.
What does that mean? Put simply, you wouldn’t get into any trouble for playing on online casinos, because these platforms aren’t under the government scrutiny. And, for a large number of players, online casinos in Colorado remain the first and the best choice.
We find it difficult to come up with an answer to that question, especially since we can’t rely on any legal documents. Let’s put it like this — it’s neither legal nor illegal, it’s just not regulated by the law. In that sense, online casinos are present in Colorado. However, this is strictly related to online gambling. Online sports betting was regulated in May 2020.
In addition to online sports betting, the only forms of gambling that are regulated and legalized in the state of Colorado are simulcast horse racing wagers, lottery, and charitable gambling. We are certainly hoping that the online casino industry is next in line.
Even though there have been some attempts to regulate online casinos, none of them has managed to move from the starting point. Be that as it may, there are still online casino websites that offer a wide selection of the most popular casino games to players in Colorado. Globally, the online casino industry is booming with business, and that reflects on the number of casinos that accept players from Colorado as well. With each year, the number grows.
Naturally, you might be worried about the safety of these online casinos. One thing that should come as a great relief is that, even though Colorado hasn’t legalized online casinos, offshore casinos are well-regulated and safe. The fact that they aren’t originally from the US doesn’t make them less trustworthy. They are all reliable and safe platforms you can play on.
Another option that Colorado players have are offshore online casinos. With the lack of relevant and accurate information about the current state of Colorado online casinos, many players turn to offshore platforms where they can enjoy online casino games of their choice.
A large portion of these offshore casinos accept players from the US. With these online casinos, you don’t have to worry about whether an online casino is legal or not in Colorado. These casinos don’t operate under US jurisdiction. Therefore, we can consider them legal.
Of course, based on your preferences and wishes, you need to conduct your own research in finding the perfect offshore online casino. They are, generally, completely safe and reliable.
Even though we can’t say anything with certainty, we like to think that the future of online casinos in Colorado is bright. We base that simply on the fact that online sports betting has recently been made legal. Moreover, online casinos seem to be next in line.
We would love to see the Colorado government create a framework that will help regulate and implement an expansion of online casinos in the near future. Furthermore, since Colorado is regarded as a more liberal state than others, we would love to see our expectations become a reality. It seems entirely within our reach.
In the meantime, you can always visit some online casinos that do operate and accept players from Colorado. There is a wide range of casino games you can enjoy playing while you wait for your government to come to a decision.
We mentioned in the beginning that Colorado is no stranger to gambling. The state has legalized land-based casinos in 1991 in order to save the traditional gold mining towns (Black Hawk, Cripple Creek and Central City) from becoming actual ghost cities. Today, they are home to the most popular brick-and-mortar casinos in Colorado.
At that time, only poker, slots and blackjack were allowed, and single bets couldn’t go over $5. Later on, in 2008, the State approved roulette and craps, and casinos could receive single bets up to $100. Additionally, these casinos were allowed to stay open 24/7. Turns out that was a great decision since the revenues have only been going up. At one point, Colorado hosted over 70 land-based casinos. However, now there are less than half of them, 33 casinos to be exact.
Apart from these three towns, there are some casinos located in Ute that are a part of the tribal casinos. The biggest casinos are located in Black Hawk. Interestingly, 28 out of 33 casinos have applied for the sports betting license, as gambling is gaining widespread popularity throughout the state of Colorado. Some of them even have lined up some partnerships with diverse Internet sports providers.
We can compare the Colorado situation where only 3 towns have casinos with the situation in New Jersey where only Atlantic City is permitted to have land-based casinos. Even though the Colorado brick-and-mortar casinos are small in size, we can compare their income with some of the bigger casinos and resorts in other states.
Let’s have a closer look at casinos that operate within the state of Colorado:
Name | Slot Machines | Table Games | |
1. | Wild Card Saloon and Casino | 200 | / |
2. | The Lodge Casino | 1,000 | 17 |
3. | The Gilpin Casino | 400 | 7 |
4. | Sasquatch Casino | 130 | / |
5. | Saratoga Casino | 500 | 7 |
6. | Golden Gates Casino | 270 | 8 |
7. | Red Dolly Casino | 175 | / |
8. | Lady Luck Casino | 600 | 29 |
9. | Reserve Casino and Hotel | 1,000 | 30 |
10. | Famous Bonanza | 500 | 6 |
11. | Wildwood Casino | 500 | 13 |
12. | JP McGill’s Hotel and Casino | 320 | / |
13. | Double Eagle Hotel and Casino | 477 | 5 |
14. | Century Casino in Cripple Creek | 492 | 8 |
15. | Brass Ass Casino Cripple Creek | 266 | 11 |
Keep in mind that this isn’t a complete list of the land-based casinos in Colorado. You can use this list to get the general idea of what you can expect if you decide to try out some Colorado land-based casinos. On the other hand, that might be the advantage of online casinos — the game selection is much bigger, as there are numerous software providers that make different kinds of casino games.
Since there is no clear answer, you should rely on the fact that land-based casinos will let you in only if you are older than 21. So, until that issue is resolved for online gambling, it might be best to consider that as the appropriate age limit.
Online casino websites have amazing choices of slots, card and table games, as well as many other games. Another trend that has swept the online casino industry is live casinos. They offer a real casino experience from the comfort of your home. So, you will most likely come across online casinos in Colorado that have that feature.
This is definitely one of the questions everyone asks themselves. Given that these online casinos originated from other countries, they come from regulated online casino markets, and most of them are reliable and trustworthy. That being said, you should do some research and find the details of an online casino platform before you create an account. However, the ones that already enjoy a great reputation should be considered secure.
There is plenty of game variety which includes slots, blackjack, baccarat and roulette. Many online casinos also have live dealers now, which allow you to play against a live streamed croupier.