Condado Aruba Caribbean Hotel, N. V. v. Tickel, 76--195
| Decision Date | 17 February 1977 |
| Docket Number | No. 76--195,76--195 |
| Citation | 561 P.2d 23,39 Colo.App. 51 |
| Parties | CONDADO ARUBA CARIBBEAN HOTEL, N.V., a corporation of Aruba, Netherlands Antilles, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Bill TICKEL, Defendant-Appellee. . II |
| Court | Colorado Court of Appeals |
Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber & Madden, Judith D. Levine, Denver, for plaintiff-appellant.
Frickey, Cairns & Wylder, P.C., Earl S. Wylder, Denver, for defendant-appellee.
Plaintiff, Condado Aruba Caribbean Hotel, N.V., appeals a judgment denying relief on their claim for $14,500 against defendant, Bill Tickel. We affirm.
The facts are undisputed. Plaintiff hotel loaned defendant $20,000 for gambling at its casino in Aruba, Netherlands Antilles. Gambling is legal in Aruba. Defendant wrote two checks to repay the debt, each of which was returned for insufficient funds. Defendant subsequently paid $5,500 of the debt, and plaintiff brought this action to recover the remainder.
Plaintiff contends that the trial court erred in holding that the gambling debt was unenforceable. We disagree.
Plaintiff concedes that gambling debts have been held unenforceable in Colorado, See, e.g., National Surety Co. v. Stockyards National Bank, 84 Colo. 563, 272 P. 470, but asserts that this refusal to enforce such debts was based on a statute, C.R.S.1963, 40--10--13, which has now been repealed. Colo.Sess.Laws 1971, ch. 121, sec. 1. Therefore, plaintiff urges, collection of gambling debts incurred where gambling is legal is no longer against public policy in Colorado, and such debts should now be enforced. This contention is without merit.
Contrary to plaintiff's assertion, the policy of refusing to enforce gambling debts in Colorado has not been based solely on statutory grounds. In the early case of Eldred v. Malloy, 2 Colo. 320, the court ruled that enforcement of gambling debts was against sound public policy, and so ruled without reference to the statutory prohibition in effect at the time.
Even in the absence of grounds independent of the statutory prohibition against the enforcement of gambling debts, repeal of C.R.S.1963, 40--10--13, does not necessarily evidence an intent by the legislature to change the existing policy. The current legislative declaration relating to the criminal statutes regarding gambling declares that it is the policy of the general assembly:
to restrain all persons from seeking profit from gambling activities in this state; to restrain all persons from patronizing such activities when conducted for the profit of any person; (and) to safeguard the public against the evils induced by common gamblers and common gambling houses . . .. Section 18--10--101, C.R.S.1973.
This declaration evidences a continuation of the policy against gambling for profit in Colorado, and we therefore conclude that gambling debts owed to a for-profit gambling business are still unenforceable in this state.
Furthermore, we find no indication in this...
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