Colorado gambling regulators are boosting their staffing levels by 16 percent to deal with the passage of a ballot measure that allows the state’s three mountain casino towns to raise the maximum bet limit.
The Division of Gaming’s request for an additional 13 full-time employees was approved Thursday by the Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission.
The new hires will start in February and take the division from 79 to 92 employees, said spokesman Don Burmania. The agency’s budget for fiscal 2009, which ends June 30, will increase by $600,000 to $8.5 million.
The new positions will include two auditors, two compliance investigators, two background investigators and seven criminal investigators.
Amendment 50 gave Colorado’s gambling towns — Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek — authority to increase bet limits from $5 to $100, extend to 24-hour operations and add craps and roulette. The earliest the changes can occur is July 1.
Under the measure, regulators will have to determine the effect that higher bet limits, longer operating hours and new games have on revenue for tax-distribution purposes. Three- quarters of new revenue will go to community colleges.
The old revenue — the money that regulators determine would be generated even without the changes — will continue to be distributed to existing beneficiaries.
Andy Vuong: 303-954-1209 or avuong@denverpost.com
