Amendment 50 – Colorado

Shall we turn Central City, Black Hawk and Cripple Creek into Las Vegas? That's what this one is really about.

Casino owners are complaining that revenue is down. The solution? Raise the bet limit from $5 to $100, leave the casinos open 24 hours a day instead of closing from 2:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. and add other games of chance. The towns would have to vote to approve the changes but that's pretty much a done deal as the casinos really own the towns.

There are a few other perks for the casino owners in the amendment too.

We let the camels nose in the tent when casino gambling first came to Colorado. Now we are on the edge of getting the whole thing. The only real beneficiaries will be the casino owners. The people of Colorado will end up paying a lot more as we absorb the costs of the resulting societal damage.

I really dislike the advertising for this amendment. It's disguised as help for Community Colleges. Worse still is the coalition of Community Colleges who support it because they will get a piece of the pie; they sell-out for the almighty dollar. They are the Judas goat incarnate.

It’s too bad that so many people will be fooled by the promoters of this amendment. If it passes, all of Colorado will suffer for the greed of a few.

Another subject for me is the damage that gambling has done to Central City. My dad was born in the town of Russell Gulch in 1913. It’s about 2 miles southwest of Central City. I have many childhood memories of visiting that ghost town and it’s abandoned mines and then going into Central City after. We would eat and visit various places around town. It was a struggling town before casino gambling but now because of casino gambling it’s been completely changed for the worse. If Amendment 50 passes, I’m sure that the final blow for this historic town will come.

Philip