Rock slide helps boost city’s gambling business

Monday, July 25, 2005 | 9:25 a.m.

CENTRAL CITY, Colo. -- Last month's massive rock slide is helping increase gambling business in this historic town, which was already benefiting from the construction of the Central City Parkway.

"We've been smiling a lot more" since the slide, says Central City Mayor Buddy Schmalz, who is also a brewmaster at a nearby pub and casino. "I'm laughing a lot more, too."

Since gaming's beginning in 1991, Central City's cozy, family-owned Main Street has been out-performed by Black Hawk, with its scene-stealing 49-cent breakfasts, BMW giveaways and mammoth casinos laced inside with strings of neon.

The main route to both cities, Colorado 119 connecting to U.S. 6, took gamblers to Black Hawk first and many stopped there without going the extra mile to Central City.

Last year Central City built and opened its own highway from Interstate 70.

And on June 21, 2,300 cubic yards of rock fell on U.S. 6, closing a portion of the road until September, pushing thousands of visitors to the new Central City Parkway and turning this old mining town into the new first stop for gamblers.

From January to June adjusted gross proceeds in Central City -- the total amount wagered minus payouts by the casinos -- jumped by almost 50 percent. It is the longest sustained revenue growth since Central City's gambling heyday in the early 1990s.