Dear Editor,

For what was formerly a small and poor County, gaming has helped build some outstanding infrastructure in Gilpin County and it keeps our property taxes at some of the lowest in Colorado, if not the lowest.

What is problematic about gaming, however, is the uncomfortable truth that gaming contributes to human trafficking, gambling addiction, theft, and drug offenses and much of this crime problem is off-loaded onto the County. According to Gilpin Sheriff’s County reports, 93% of inmate arrests are gaming related.

A financial analogy to Gilpin County is a person with 50% of their investments in one risky asset, which makes it acutely vulnerable to any downturn in the industry. The pandemic led to Gilpin County being cited as the most economically impacted County in the US. The severe drought we are currently experiencing could make it impossible to effectively supply water to Black Hawk’s hotels and casinos, as could a serious hazardous spill along the I-70 corridor along Clear Creek, where the City gets much of its water or Internet Gaming could radically transform the gambling market.

To protect the gaming industry, Black Hawk continually attempts to undermine the sovereignty of the County by offering money in exchange for no-new-tax pledges. A prime example is the weekly published threat of defunding held over the Gilpin School if any taxes are raised. This makes it difficult for the County to protect itself against the possibility of a downturn in gaming without losing significant funding.

The City of Black Hawk also uses prodigious amounts of water and plans to use much more in the future.

• According to the City of Black Hawk’s Comprehensive Plan (p 5) “Today, Black Hawk casino hotels provide over 1500 rooms, with infrastructure plans supporting another 4500 rooms. The City’s water plan will accommodate casino industry growth and supporting amenities.” 

• In the Plan the use of water is projected to go up from 482 Acre ft/Yr to 3070 Acre ft/yr. There are 325,851 gallons per acre ft X 2588 additional acre ft = 843,302,388 additional gallons of water use. Total water use by the City would be 1,000,362,570 gallons (yes, over 1 billion gallons!).

• Some facts about water use:

• According to the Black Hawk ERO Alternative Analysis Report, hotels in the City use an average of 232 gallons of water per room per day. Along with hotels, intensive water users such as breweries and distilleries are in the report.

• A typical household of 3 people uses around 100 - 120 gallons per day.

• Gilpin County has about 3,200 owner occupied homes. Black Hawk’s planned expansion would add water demand of more than 4,500 homes depending on hotel occupancy. It’s not hard to imagine that this would completely disrupt water supply to the County.

• The subdivisions nearest to Black Hawk, including Paradise Valley, Dory Hills, Missouri Lakes 1 and 2, Aspen Springs, and Apex are probably the most in danger.

Nowhere in Black Hawk’s plan is there an attempt to estimate the impact of additional water use, additional crime, or the need for housing for new casino employees on Gilpin County. Black Hawk has an explicit policy of not building new housing. In addition, an average of 20,000 people visit Black Hawk every day. Imagine 4 times that number visiting Black Hawk every day!

It is time for the citizens of Gilpin County to begin questioning the City Council of Black Hawk about their plans to mitigate the probable impacts on Gilpin County from the huge increase in gaming they have planned. It is also time for the citizens of the County to start thinking about ways to hedge their bets in case of another serious gaming downturn. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Eric Douglas

Gilpin County