Bally’s Black Hawk Casino Workers Join Teamsters Union, a Colorado First

Casino workers at Bally’s three Black Hawk properties in Colorado have voted to organize with Teamsters Local 455, marking the first time in state history that casino employees have unionized. The 110-worker bargaining unit spans Bally’s East, North, and West properties in the mountain gaming town of Black Hawk, one of Colorado’s three legal casino destinations along with Cripple Creek and Central City.

The vote was conducted through a card-check process rather than a traditional secret-ballot election, meaning workers secured union representation once a majority in the unit signed authorization cards. The new unit includes cooks, cashiers, bartenders, servers, housekeeping staff, maintenance technicians, slot attendants, and slot technicians — the range of roles that keep a casino floor and its surrounding amenities running day to day.

How the Card-Check Path Came Together

The organizing drive traces back to a neutrality agreement Bally’s Corporation struck with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in November 2025. That accord committed Bally’s to a direct, streamlined path to union representation for casino workers across its properties, bypassing the more contentious traditional election process typically overseen by the National Labor Relations Board. Under the terms of that agreement, once workers in a given unit signed enough authorization cards to represent a majority, the company agreed to automatically recognize the Teamsters as their bargaining representative rather than contesting the outcome.

Black Hawk became the first real-world test of that agreement, and workers didn’t wait long to act. Within months of the neutrality deal taking effect, the 110-person unit across the three Black Hawk properties had gathered enough signed cards to trigger recognition. Alexander Balza, a housekeeper at the property and now a member of Local 455, said the move was about improving day-to-day conditions on the job rather than any broader statement. “We saw an opportunity to make things better at work, and we took it,” Balza said.

What Workers Are Asking For

According to the union, the employees pursued organizing specifically to negotiate wage increases, improved benefits, and safer working conditions — the same core issues that have driven casino and hospitality unionization efforts in other states over the past several years. Housekeeping, food and beverage, and slot maintenance roles tend to carry physically demanding workloads with schedules that can shift with the flow of gaming traffic, and those concerns have consistently surfaced in union drives at properties elsewhere in the country.

With the card-check vote complete, the union and Bally’s now move toward negotiating a first contract covering wages, benefits, and workplace safety standards for the Black Hawk unit. First contracts after a card-check recognition can still take months to finalize, since both sides have to work through the specifics of pay scales, scheduling rules, and grievance procedures from scratch rather than building on an existing agreement.

A Bigger Signal for the Industry

Tommy Blitsch, Director of the Teamsters Convention, Trade Show, and Casino Division, framed the vote as a milestone that extends beyond just one property. “The workers at Black Hawk Casino came together to secure a stronger voice on the job, and they’ve made history in the process,” Blitsch said.

The win also adds to a broader national push by the Teamsters into casino labor, where the union says it now represents nearly 6,000 casino workers across the country. That growth has come largely through neutrality agreements similar to the one Bally’s signed, which several gaming operators have adopted in recent years as a way to manage labor relations without the drawn-out disputes that traditional union elections can produce.

Colorado’s legal sports betting and casino market has grown steadily since the state’s gaming towns expanded their operations, and this vote signals that labor organizing is now becoming part of that industry’s next chapter. Black Hawk’s casino corridor, along with Cripple Creek and Central City, has long been a significant employer base in the region, and a successful first contract at Bally’s properties could set a template other operators in those towns watch closely.

Whether other properties in Black Hawk or Colorado’s other gaming markets see similar organizing efforts may hinge on how quickly Bally’s and Local 455 can reach a first contract at these three properties, and on how that agreement addresses the wage and benefit concerns that drove the original card-check push.