If you're planning a Denver vacation, you might be interested to know that Colorado has limited stakes gambling in three mountain towns: Blackhawk, Central City and Cripple Creek.

Limited stakes means that no bet can be more than $5.00.

Central City and Blackhawk are near Denver (about an hour's drive from the downtown area.

Cripple Creek is southwest of Colorado Springs and about two hours from downtown Denver.

The casinos in all three of these towns offer Roulette, Craps, Black Jack, Slots and Poker - including Texas Hold 'Em.

These three towns were permitted to offer legalized gambling as a way to generate dollars to be used for historical preservation. Unfortunately, gambling has all but wiped out the historic buildings in these communities.

However, Central City still offers shopping, music, and historic buildings, especially the Teller House, home of the famed "face on the barroom floor. ? And Cripple Creek has some fun, family-oriented activities in the summer, including the Cripple Creek & Victor Narrow Gauge Railroad, Cripple Creek Players Melodrama and the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine.

Blackhawk has more than 20 casinos. The most popular of these are probably Bullwhackers, and the the Isle of Capri. If you'd like more of a taste of historic Colorado, try the Gilpin Hotel Casino. Central City has only five casinos. I have no personal experience with any of them, but have heard that Doc Holiday and Fortune Valley are good places to go. Two of the most popular casinos in Cripple Creek are the Double Eagle Hotel and Casino and Bronco Billy's.

To get to Blackhawk from downtown Denver, take U.S. 6 west to its intersection with Colorado #119 and then #119 west to Blackhawk. You can then continue up the hill to Central City. A second way to get to Central City is to take I-70 west to Colorado #279 (Virginia Canyon Rd.) and #279 north to Central City. Cripple Creek can be reached by going south on I-25 to U.S. 24 and then taking it north through Green Mountain Falls and Woodland Park to Divide. At Divide, you will need to pick up Highway #67 which will take you to Cripple Creek.

Go to any of these three web sites to get more information on our "mini-Las Vegas."

Blackhawk www.blackhawkcolorado.com

Central City www.centralcitycolorado.com/

Cripple Creek www.cripple-creekcolorado.com

Douglas Hanna

Douglas Hanna is a retired advertising and marketing executive. Over the course of his 30-plus year career, he created sales-winning advertising and marketing plans for a wide variety of clients. Hanna writes extensively about family finances, old time radio and the Internet. He is also the webmaster of a site devoted to a new technology called HD Radio.