CRIPPLE CREEK, Colo (KOAA) — If you visit Johnny Nolon's Casino or Colorado Grande Casino and Hotel in Cripple Creek, you will likely notice the "Certified Loose" ads posted on the slot machines.
The owners of the casinos, Rocky Mountain Gaming, took over in October of 2024.
“While many casinos promote loose slots and jackpot winners, we wanted to prove it to our guests,” said David Ross, Partner of Rocky Mountain Gaming. “We knew the Loose Slots Certification from Strictly Slots magazine was the most prestigious certification in the industry and felt we were qualified."
The ads on the websites for both casinos and some inside the businesses state their slots were 17% looser than the Cripple Creek market in 2024, but News5 wanted to dive deeper to understand how that number was determined.
Before getting into that specific marketing, I want to break down the lingo used by the industry and some used by the Division of Gaming for the State of Colorado.
HOLD%: The Colorado Division of Gaming shares the average hold % for each market publicly. That includes Black Hawk, Cripple Creek and Central City. The hold % is the amount of money gambled that a casino or slot machine retains. Click here to view the Industry Statistics in Colorado.
RETURN-TO-PLAYER%: The return-to-player percentage, or RTP, is used by many publications to showcase how much money players get back from casinos. The RTP is determined by subtracting the hold % by 100%.
EXAMPLE: If the HOLD% is 10%, that means the return-to-player (RTP) is 90%, or that players are winning back 90% of the money from casinos.
Christopher Schroder, the director of the Colorado Division of Gaming, explained the hold percentage and return-to-player percentage is a balancing act. The casinos have to focus on making a profit, but they ideally want people to have a good time. Schroder added the division audits each location and they have a very robust process.
"You want to make sure that you have fair and regulated games," Schroder explained. "You want to have games where people can enjoy going there and having a good time... but just like everything, there's risk and reward."
According to Colorado law, slot machines have to pay out between 80 to 100 percent over the life of the machine. According to the state, most machines pay out around 90 percent, with higher denominations paying out higher than lower denominations.
"While it has to be above 80 percent here in Colorado, different casinos have a different marketing use for that term, and they're able to utilize that to differentiate themselves," Schroder said.
How are Johnny Nolon's Casino and Colorado Grande Casino marketing they had 17 percent looser slots in 2024?
The casinos, Johnny Nolon's and Colorado Grande, provided their gaming tax returns for 2024 to an organization called Strictly Slots. After reviewing those documents and comparing them to the state data, the magazine then compared the overall slot hold percentage for Johnny Nolon’s Casino and Colorado Grande Casino & Hotel to the rest of the Cripple Creek market and found their hold percentage was 17 percent "looser" than the rest of the market.
Strictly Slots confirmed with News5 that their certification was based on 12 months from January to December of 2024. In that time period, the market average hold percentage for Cripple Creek was 7.68%, while the average hold percentage for Johnny Nolon's Casino and Colorado Grande Casino was 6.39 percent, a difference of 1.29 percent. By holding 1.29 percent less than the market average, (1.29/7.68) those two casinos are 16.79 percent "looser" than the market average, rounded up to 17% for that 2024 time period.
PLAY SLOTS "SMARTER"
A man who studies data from slots across the country is John Friedl, who also goes by Professor Slots. Friedl wrote about an introduction to Colorado slot machine casino gambling in 2023 and return-to-player data in Colorado from 2019 through 2021. Friedl lives in Nevada, and the only connection he says he has to Colorado is through Monarch Casino, simply that he has permission to record inside the location in Black Hawk.
"There are 20 U.S. states that provide return-to-player data available to the public... Colorado is one of those, and it is really at the top of the mark as far as the data provided," Friedl explained.
Friedl said that when it comes to return-to-player percentage, "nobody really beats Nevada." Friedl explained Nevada's RTP is about 93 percent on average across the state compared to 92 percent in Colorado and 90 percent in Indiana. Friedl says every percentage point matters.
"I tell my fans trying to understand two percent better is like, it's so much better," Friedl said with a smile. "It's the difference between the worst casino you've ever been to and the best casino you've ever been to."
Friedl has also noticed a trend in Colorado, the RTP for Cripple Creek has been higher than Black Hawk on average when it comes to all slot machines since January of 2019, but the RTP for Cripple Creek has slowly decreased in recent years. See the graph Friedl provided below (Note the large spikes in 2021 and 2022 were likely tied to COVID-19).
Friedl believes a player can use this type of data to their advantage, to examine the market trends and figure out if there are any patterns. He says when it comes to marketing, businesses can also use the data to their advantage.
"My statistics professors said, you can prove anything with statistics," Friedl said.
CASINOS AND MARKETING IN COLORADO
Caddy Corner to Johnny Nolon's Casino are the Triple Crown Casinos. They have been voted "loosest slots" in Cripple Creek seven years in a row according to the Mountain Jackpot News. Many may see the billboard touting the honor while driving up Highway 24 from Colorado Springs or outside one of their three casinos. The Division of Gaming doesn't just audit the machines and tax information, they also take a close look at ads.
"The Division of Gaming does audit all advertisements to ensure that it is both accurate as well as making sure it has the responsible gaming information listed on there," Schroder told News 5. "When it comes to a specific thing like loosest slots, it depends on how you define that phrase, right? It could be based on a specific machine. It could be based on banking machines. It could be based on the casino, in totality, having the lowest hold percentage. You would have to refer to that casino to ask them the specifics of what that breakdown is and what that advertising is used for. But the division of gaming does audit advertisements to ensure compliance with all rules and regulations in Colorado."
RESPONSIBLE GAMING
News5 wanted to include an easy-to-access resource if you have a gambling problem. You can call 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-522-4700) to receive support if you believe you may have a gambling addiction.
On Feb. 26, the Division of Gaming along with the Colorado Lottery will be at the Capitol to highlight Problem Gambling Awareness month which is in march.
"Here in Colorado, we have a very detailed responsible gaming plan as well as each casino submits to us a responsible gaming plan to ensure that both they as well as the public, are able to have responsible gaming here in Colorado," Schroder said. "A very small percentage of individuals develop a gambling problem. We want to make sure that we're giving them the resources available."
CLICK HERE for more resources from the Division of Gaming.
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