BLACK HAWK, Colo. -- Colorado’s three gambling towns began a new era at 12:01 A.M. Thursday.

New laws, born out of the passage of Amendment 50 last November, went into effect July 2. The new regulations allow casinos in Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek to stay open 24 hours a day seven days a week, adds craps and roulette and raises betting limits from $5 to $100.

“We’re really excited about kicking it off,” said Stephen Roark, president of Jacobs Entertainment Inc., which owns the Lodge and Gilpin Casinos.

To know what Colorado could be in for, supporters took note of a small western town in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Gambling first came to the town of Deadwood, South Dakota, 20 years ago -- two years before Colorado.

Deadwood’s betting limits were raised in 2000, helping to raise overall gaming revenues from $52 million to roughly $102 million last year, according to data filed with the South Dakota Commission

Gaming tax revenues are divided up among the state’s General Fund, local municipalities and school districts, which received just over $352,000 last year.

Deadwood’s mayor told 7NEWS Wednesday the changes in gambling regulations there have been so successful he wouldn’t go back.

“There have been certain expenditures we had to make; certain projects we’ve been able to fund because of the increase,” said Mayor Francis Toscana.

Back in Colorado, where statewide gross gambling revenues topped $773 million last year, community colleges stand to gain.

Seventy eight percent of the new tax revenue collected by the casinos will go to Colorado community colleges.

Education officials project $11 million will be raised the first year and $25 million the following year, as supporters bet on odds the new games in town will raise tax revenues by 25 to 30 percent.

“We’re going to make sure it pays off," said Lois Rice, executive director of the Colorado Gaming Association.

“We're very community invested, we want to give back not only to the local communities that host gaming, but we want to give back to the state as a whole," she said.