If poker is classified as a game of skill, the impact would reverberate across the metro area and at the state’s mountain gambling towns.
Brian Masters, owner of the Denver Poker Tour, said the change would be a boon for his business, which organizes free poker tournaments at more than a dozen bars and restaurants every night.
“I would go from a million-dollar company a year to a multimillion- dollar company because I could turn these games into cash games immediately,” Masters said.
Under existing law, Masters can’t require players to pay a buy-in or operate cash games and collect a portion of each pot. He currently makes money from bars, restaurants and sponsors.
John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C., said a reclassification of poker could lead to a newly regulated industry, similar to card rooms in California, which defines poker as a “controlled game” rather than a game of chance.
“This could open the door for the legislature to act and effectively license and regulate card rooms in the state,” Pappas said.
Masters believes that could happen, though it would take a few years.
If it does, Colorado’s mountain casinos would probably take a hit. The industry generated nearly $24 million in revenue from poker in 2008, up 65 percent from 2003.
“Without a doubt, it would (affect us). Negatively,” said Blake Sartini, chief executive of Golden Gaming, which operates three casinos in Black Hawk.
