Author: David Migoya
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6 key takeaways from 3-month investigation into Colorado’s charitable gaming world
A summary of the findings of senior investigative reporter David Migoya’s three-month probe into the inner workings of the state’s $110 million charitable gaming world:
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Colorado charities pay bingo volunteers despite law prohibiting it
Colorado’s charitable gaming laws succinctly prohibit state nonprofits from paying or remunerating volunteers who work the bingo and raffle games they host. That doesn’t seem to stop them. The Denver Gazette identified at least three organizations – all of them related to youth sports – that funnel charitable gaming proceeds to the financial benefit of…
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Colorado bingo nonprofits don’t always tell the IRS what they tell the state, some say nothing
Editor’s note: This is the last in a three-part series examing Colorado’s $110 million charitable gaming industry. Colorado nonprofits that rely on charitable gaming to raise funds – most through bingo nights – are required to file regular financial reports with state regulators that track how much money comes in, how much goes out and…
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Winning a raffle in Colorado doesn’t always mean someone actually wins
Colorado’s professional sports teams at one time each paired with local nonprofits to run 50/50 raffles that yearly pulled in hundreds of thousands of dollars. Not all have kept with the practice. The Colorado Rockies and its namesake foundation is the sole team that maintains a partnership. But records show even with a lousy team…
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Felons engaged in Colorado’s charitable gaming industry
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Editor’s note: This is the second in a three-part series examining Colorado’s $110 million charitable gaming industry. Howard Geller told police that Big Dog wanted Geller to get some people and head to Akron, Colo., so he hopped into his Dodge Durango along with his buddy, Cricket, and a woman he knew and off they…
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Colorado bingo night: It’s all about the prizes, not so much the charity
It’s a Thursday night at Bingo Oasis in Northglenn. Located on the outer edge of a nondescript strip mall just west of I-25, it has a simple façade sign advertising what goes on behind the mirrored and postered windows: BINGO. About the only giveaway to the activity there is that the 50 or so cars…
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Colorado’s $110M bingo industry is littered with loopholes — and hardly anyone is watching
Editor’s note: This is the first in a three-part series examing Colorado’s $110 million charitable gaming industry. Colorado’s charitable gaming industry – hundreds of bingo nights and raffle drawings across the state – is a $110-million-a-year enterprise that for decades has operated with thin oversight and little actual financial return to the charities the law…
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Dozens of liquor shops shuttered after voters OK wine sales in grocery stores; hundreds more expected
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Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save When Colorado voters were asked in 2022 to allow grocery stores to sell wine — lifting a 107-year restriction the industry repeatedly and unsuccessfully tried to beat back legislatively for decades — proponents billed it as a win for consumers’ pocketbooks and the leveling of…
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Insider deal creates ‘monopoly’: How Vail’s exclusive delivery service sparked a lawsuit and controversy
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Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save It’s all about who you know. In just over three years, Matthew Dietz leapt from bankruptcy into a million-dollar, multi-year contract the Town of Vail laid at his feet in a lucrative deal that could ultimately transform ski towns across Colorado. As business partners, Dietz…
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Judge’s drinking problems reportedly at core of discipline case; colleagues knew, but never reported it
At least three judges — Colorado’s Supreme Court chief justice and a now-retired appellate court judge among them — years ago knew of a Denver juvenile court judge’s drinking problems but never reported them, then maintained that silence while a courthouse manager who had sought their help in confronting the judge faced firing instead, The…