Colorado Casino Market Up 5% to $790M in 2015

In 2015, Colorado’s casino market generated $790.1 million in revenues, representing a 5.9% improvement on the previous year. Furthermore, the revenue increase reverses the slight declines noted in 2013 and 2014, whilst also boosting state gambling tax revenues by 7.2% to $113.8 million year-over-year.
In what could prove to be a break-out year for The Centennial State, its 2015’s tally was the second-best ever recorded, with its best ever coming in 2007 just before the global recession started. Business has been somewhat sluggish since then, but last year’s revenues were the largest yearly increase seen in 15 years.
Colorado has 35 casinos spread out across the state, with one of its biggest, the Ameristar Black Hawk, having had to cut back on its staff and services in 2008. Since then, the venue has spent millions of dollars updating its industry in an attempt to draw gamblers back to its tables and slots, and commenting on the casino’s 2015’s result, Black Hawk Manager Jack Lewis explained:
“We had to lay off some great people, and we have still not replaced them. We have learned to do more with less, but things are on the rebound. We are about 10 percent off where we were in 2007, so it is improving, but still not back to pre-recession levels yet for us.”
Another Colorado market to return impressive results in 2015 was its regulated recreational and medical marijuana industry, which generated $996.18 million last year, in the process contributing $135 million towards state coffers. Commenting on the huge figures, Communications Director of the Marijuana Policy Project, Mason Tvert, stated:
“It’s remarkable that less than seven years ago, all of that money was being spent in the underground market. Clearly there’s a large demand for marijuana, and we’re now seeing that demand being met by legitimate businesses that are answering to authorities instead of criminals who answer to nobody.”