Skilled gaming or illegal gambling? Colorado Springs & Pueblo facing lawsuit at the heart of it
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - Skilled gaming or illegal gambling, what's the difference?
"In today's day and age, looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it is a duck, doesn't work anymore," said Trey Franzoy, the owner of Charlie Chedda's and Patriot Contest & Games. "We have AI, we have Photoshop, we have all of these things. And thankfully, the law doesn't work that way. It's the way something actually functions. These clearly don't function like a slot machine."
In November, Trey Franzoy filed a lawsuit seeking damages against a Colorado gaming agency and multiple municipalities:
- Colorado Springs
- Pueblo
- Grand Junction
- Current and former members of the Colorado Division of Gaming
Franzoy says these groups wrongfully seized and imposed licensing blocks against his business and customers, calling it a violation of his 4th Amendment rights.
In Colorado Springs, Franzoy's legal complaint says the Colorado Springs Police Department seized $118,762.11 in 2023 and moved to keep it by filing a civil forfeiture action in court. The complaint details Franzoy's contesting of the action and says that in 2025, the court ordered a return of the funds and silver bars seized. The complaint adds that CSPD, as of Nov. 7, still has equipment and computers that have not been returned.
In Pueblo, Franzoy alleges that the city would not renew the liquor license for a military club that had Franzoy's machines inside.
"Contest video games are where people come and compete for existing prizes, and they have to utilize skill to do that," said Franzoy. He contends that the machines at his establishments are not illegal gambling, but instead require skill to win.
Franzoy admitted his machines look a lot like slot machines, but they don't act like slot machines. In the red outline in the picture above, you can see the one major difference. Normally, when a patron plays a slot machine, it spins all the rows, and if it stops on a matching combination, then the patron wins.
On the machines at Franzoy's businesses, one of the rows doesn't spin like the others. Instead, once the spin is completed, players are left with an option and a timer. That option and timer are highlighted in the above image.
"You physically have to pick [an option]. If you don't pick anything, nothing is just given to you. If I let this timer run out, don't make any selection. I'm not going to be awarded a prize," Franzoy said. "There's no chance awards or anything like that involved in these games."
Franzoy says his business differs from the gambling business because the games are skill-based and not based on chance.
However, this is not a universal opinion.
The Colorado Gaming Association tells KRDO13 Investigates that, according to the law in the Colorado Constitution, those machines are clearly slot machines.
The Colorado Constitution defines gaming machines "where results are determined by reason of the skill of the player or the application of the element of chance, or both," as a "Simulated gambling device."
KRDO13 Investigates reached out to Colorado Springs, Grand Junction, Pueblo, and the Colorado Division of Gaming, which operates under the Division of Revenue.
Grand Junction did not respond to our request for comment. All other organizations and municipalities said they don't comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit is still in the very early stages. According to the most recent court filings, the defendants have been granted an extension on their deadline to respond to the initial complaint. They have until the end of the year.
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