Business owners, law enforcement navigating the murky waters of skilled gaming | Western Colorado

Former oilfield worker Troy Romero and his wife Denise, who have worked at other skilled gaming establishments, run Raptors, a skilled gaming parlor on Main Street in Grand Junction. After nearly two years in business, the Raptors joined the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce last month.

Inside, various games light up and make noise when music plays.

Troy Romero said: “It’s not all about chance, it’s about skill.

One game works similarly to a slot machine, but the user must select “up” or “down” to line up the desired numbers and pay out.

“You have to line up the winning aces or whatever it is,” Romero said. “It could be a whistle, it could be a jack. If you don’t do it right, you fail.”

Another is a fishing game, where participants shoot fish and other objects at a video game screen (such as Big Buck Hunter or Galaga) in order to earn points and money.

“That’s what confuses people because they’ve seen or heard about fish tables?” Romero said.

Romero said he has a diverse clientele, including many blue-collar workers and people on their lunch and dinner breaks.

“I think it’s great entertainment for people who just want to do something,” said Dennis Romero. “If you don’t want to drink, there’s not much you can do at Grand Junction.”

But Mesa County law enforcement say the skilled gaming business is attracting criminal activity. In October, he was shot once outside a fishing hole on North Avenue. Several other seasoned gaming businesses, in March he was sought by the FBI.

“A lot of us get a really bad rap because there are other people who don’t look after the business,” Romero said. We wouldn’t be on Main Street if we allowed a lot of things to happen.”

Travis Christensen, Sergeant in the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office’s Crime Reduction Unit, said wherever these businesses pop up, the amount of crime in the area increases.

“Most of the people that go there seem to be criminal element type people. A lot of drug distribution, drug use, robberies, thefts, things like that,” Christensen said. “There were several locations where multiple drive-by shootings took place at gaming facilities. There were stabbings and shootings at these types of facilities.”

Crime reduction units focus on specific locations where criminal activity is higher than normal. Christensen said the department has been investigating the skilled gaming business for about six months and has targeted about four to five locations for criminal activity.

“Since December 1, we’ve had 22 calls to deal with law enforcement, so that’s more than one a day,” Christensen said on December 15. Since December 1, he has arrested 14 people from that particular facility. ”

The Grand Junction Police Department also has problems with its seasoned gaming business.

Interim Police Chief Matt Smith said, “There was a fair amount of criminal activity in some of these places.” did.”

“We are certainly concerned about criminal activity, especially of a violent nature,” Smith said. “We’ve had shootings, stabbings, robberies. It has been addressed and will be addressed immediately.”

Smith was careful to point out that not all seasoned gaming businesses have proven to be a problem for his department, but patrol officers say that this type of business attracts criminals and their I am aware that the location may be monitored.

“We are not all the same. We are not exactly the same,” Romero said.

“We monitor these locations as much as we can and provide that information to our patrol officers so they are aware of the locations. It’s our research department,” said Smith.

Romero said the skilled game business is like any other business, with good actors and bad actors.

“There are bars that you dare not go to, and there are bars that everyone goes to,” Romero said.

“If we don’t see crime in the area, I’m not sure that’s our position to deal with private companies,” Smith said.

Christensen said he suspects many of Mesa County’s property crimes are related to people needing money for drugs and games.

“People who are central to criminal activity know that these places are common grounds where everyone gathers, so they move from one to the next, go around and find each place. and for whatever reason,” said Nick Bouton, deputy sheriff for the Crime Reduction Unit.

Christensen and Bouton said that people are attracted to gaming businesses that are skilled in terms of gambling and cash, and others are attracted to those people.

For example, according to Christensen, if a drug dealer hangs out at a skilled gaming company, you need to go there to buy drugs.

“All types of criminals that we think we have are frequenting these places for one reason or another,” Christensen said.

Romero says this description doesn’t apply to all seasoned gaming businesses.

“We’re just hearing bad things about everyone in town, but we’re not all bad,” he said.

Christensen also said many skilled gaming businesses are open all night. It is also difficult to track the business itself.

“They move around quite a bit. They’ll move into cities, then counties, and then back into cities,” Smith said. It is sometimes difficult to know who the owner of

“They are like speakeasies,” Christensen said.

According to Christensen, rumors abound about possible activity within the company, including unconfirmed reports of drug distribution within the company. He said he suspects the people who run the businesses themselves have long criminal histories.

“I’ve heard that some are handing out silver, sterling silver instead of US currency to win,” Christensen said.

Christensen said the sheriff’s office could start calling public nuisance statues to shut down skilled gaming businesses that are problematic for the community.

Smith said he supports a holistic approach to business that addresses behavior from both a law enforcement perspective and a policy perspective. There is, he said.

“They kind of slip through the cracks in the way the law was written, so it’s hard to do anything with that,” Smith said.

The Grand Junction City Council will host a workshop to discuss this topic scheduled for January 9th.

Smith and Christensen noted that the issue is something that most agencies in Colorado are working on to some degree.

“There are very few cities that are immune to this and have problems and challenges, so we really want the state to step in and do something,” Smith said.

Smith said Colorado’s gaming department has regulatory authority over the skilled gaming business and the issue will be addressed.

The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office, which primarily monitors the skilled gaming business for criminal activity, said Christensen said he was of the opinion that what was happening was illegal gambling.

Romero disagreed, stating, “Everything is skill-based. If you jump into one of these without skill, you lose your ass.”

A spokeswoman for the state’s gaming department said in an email that the department considers skilled gaming businesses illegal.

“There is expertise[in the state]to investigate these cases, but so far they have never been outside of gaming town,” Smith said.

GJPD Attorney Jeremiah Boies said:

Romero said a little more clarity would probably be better for everyone and would improve the reputation of his industry.

“We want everyone here to feel safe,” Romero said. “When a bullclap happens, it affects our business.