Fortune Valley bets on a new name: Reserve Casino Hotel

When the Colorado Gaming Commission heads to Central City for its monthly meeting next week, it will be greeted by a new casino. Or at least, a casino with a new name: Fortune Valley, which got its start as Harvey's Wagon Wheel Casino, then became Harrah's, will next be Reserve...

By Patricia Calhoun

November 11, 2011

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When the Colorado Gaming Commission heads to Central City for its monthly meeting next week, it will be greeted by a new casino. Or at least, a casino with a new name: Fortune Valley, which got its start as Harvey's Wagon Wheel Casino, then became Harrah's, will next be Reserve Casino Hotel.

The operators of the casino/hotel, which changed ownership last year, originally said that it would become a Hard Rock or Planet Hollywood -- and this summer even installed a giant guitar-shaped bar on the main floor in anticipation of the identity change. But instead, it's become Reserve.

That revelation comes from The Little Kingdom Come newspaper edited by Lew Cady. "We remember when rebranding would get you hanged or shot. Or both," he writes. "But Fortune Valley did it anyway. The largest casino in Central City has decided to rebrand itself.... All of those (us) who thought it would be Hard Rock Casino or Planet Hollywood have been revealed to be dumber 'n cowboys on Saturday night."

When Westword sent a staff of reporters to cover the Black Hawk/Central City gambling scene for 24 hours last fall, they used Fortune Valley as their base of operations. Somehow both the casino and the reporting crew survived. Read all about it in "All Bets Are Off."

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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