Colorado Needs Slot Machine Regulators

There are way too many slot machines for Colorado to handle at the rate they are going. They do not have enough regulators to ensure the gambling fairness for the customers of the slot machines. There are eleven states that allow commercial casinos, and Colorado has the fewest slot machine regulators per device.

There are 17,000 slot machines in Colorado, and only five regulators to cover them. The Division of Gaming does not have the manpower necessary to ensure that the games are being operated properly. Most states have a ratio of 1,500 slot machines per official; Colorado has 3,400 per official.

In fact, when the state stepped in and started looking at the situation, they found that 14 of the state’s 46 casinos had defective or illegal slot machines. Worse than that, some of them had already been asked to be removed, but not until they had been on the floor operating for more than two years.

Five casinos were fined for slot violations in August and September, and the state says that nine more will be fined this month. Bradford Smith, former chairman of the NJ Casino Control Commission, warned Colorado about their slot machines and their casinos. He said, “(Having) defective machines on the floor which people are continuing to play can destroy the credibility of the industry and the regulatory authority, and that's something that you want to avoid at all costs," Smith said.

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