Wheels spin, cards fly as table games debut in Western Pennsylvania

PITTSBURGH - Crowds gathered around roulette wheels and croupiers in prime casino space Thursday as table games debuted in Western Pennsylvania, seemingly without a hitch.

The first-day turnout at Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh, the Meadows Racetrack & Casino in Washington County, and Presque Isle Downs & Casino near Erie was, casino operators and state regulators agreed, an auspicious beginning. Gambling halls in the Poconos, near Harrisburg, and in the Philadelphia area will introduce table games within the next 10 days.

For Pennsylvania's 31/2-year-old gaming industry - and the cash-strapped state that hopes poker, blackjack, and so forth will ease its financial troubles - the stakes could not be higher. Dennis Farrell, a gaming analyst with Wells Fargo Securities L.L.C., predicted Thursday that the 700 table games being added "could increase casino revenues by $350 million to $450 million statewide per annum in three years' time."

Last month, the state's nine casinos generated $98.2 million in tax revenue from slot-machine play, an 8.2 percent increase from a year ago, for an average of $3.27 million per day in tax collections, according to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.

At 6 a.m. Thursday, 85 tables got into full swing here at Rivers Casino on the North Shore.

"Blackjack for breakfast, baby!" exclaimed James Grimm, 48, of Pitcairn, Allegheny County, who works for a wholesale beer distributor. He was among the first to take a seat at a $10-minimum blackjack table.

"I've been waiting years for them," Grimm said. "It's like Christmas for me. This is fantastic."

Within minutes of security officers' ushering in the first players, the casino's floor was filled, mostly with men cheering one another on at the large craps and roulette tables.

It was quite the contrast to the often-silent, mostly female players who congregate around slot machines.

Twenty-five miles to the south, Bonnie Wilson, 48, a homemaker from Grove City, Pa., played the first hand of mini-baccarat at the Meadows.

"I'm not a slots person, so I'm really glad," she said about the new table games. "I'm only an hour away now, versus having to go two hours to Wheeling [West Virginia]. I imagine they're going to see a lot more of me here."