Early this week, executives of the New York-based Casino Fortune's online gaming site casinofortune.com noticed a rather marked spike in activity from Denver gamblers.

"We saw a peculiar uptick in our Denver area players and realized that it corresponded to the closing of the Teller House slots," said Casino Fortune President Dennis Rose in a statement. The Central City casino abruptly closed its doors at 2 a.m. Monday without explanation.

Colorado routinely accounts for about 3 percent of Casino Fortune's 2 million-plus clientele in the U.S.

Salsa sales heat up

Was that Colorado's own Linda Torres-Winters, creator, owner and head mixer-upper of Lindita's Instant Salsa Mix ("just add tomatoes"), on the Montel Williams television show Thursday?

It was indeed, and ever since, the orders have been pouring in.

"It's a little crazy," Torres- Winters says. "I'm still pinching myself."

Torres-Winters was one of a handful of women who appeared on the show titled "Debt to Millionaire," which featured stories of women who rose from being homeless or on welfare, for example, to start their own multimillion-dollar businesses. Torres-Winters says her own beginnings were less traumatic. She grew up as a migrant farm worker picking tomatoes with a large, loving and supportive family.

"It was a great life for me," she says.

With the help of an SBA loan through Denver-based Mi Casa Resource Center for Women, she became a successful salsa mix entrepreneur.

Since then, she's signed contracts with local supermarkets, and her customer base is growing, thanks in part to the show, which was taped in March. She's not quite sure how the show got her name - her guess is it's thanks to her involvement with Mi Casa and the SBA.

"We got overwhelmed with orders and e-mails," she says. "It was fun to watch. It started on the East Coast and moved west.

"It was just awesome."

Sort of important

During a recent Colorado Association of Nonprofit Organizations briefing, House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, said he felt like he'd arrived when a seventh-grader from Highlands Ranch asked him if she could shadow him for the day. Flattered, he asked why she had picked him. Her reply: "Our assignment was to find someone semi-important."

He joked that he had her removed from the building.

Golden holdings

President Bush's choice to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, California Republican Rep. Christopher Cox, has a substantial holding in Denver-based Newmont Mining Co., according to an Associated Press report.

In his financial disclosure report prepared for his Senate confirmation hearing, Cox, 52, lists total holdings of between $565,004 and $1.15 million in stock of Coca-Cola Co., Continental Airlines Inc. and Gold Fields Ltd. of South Africa as well as Newmont.

His investments in Coca-Cola and Newmont Mining stock, each between $250,001 and $500,000, are among his biggest single holdings, which also include two Smith Barney funds worth between $500,001 and $1 million each.

Casino Fortune reported a 10 percent increase in Denver activity over the past week. So the company did some investigating.