Two articles below speak more about the coming of table games (particularly POKER) and 24/7 operations in West Virginia casinos. I copied them here, in there entirety for the proxy challenged:
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Photos by Scott McCloskeyPatria Bledsoe of Wheeling, a new card dealer employee at the Wheeling Island Racetrack and Gaming Center, deals during the first poker games at the track Monday night. The racetrack opened the doors to its poker room for a charity event that served as practice for its dealers and table gambling personnel, and a similar event is to happen from 4-8 p.m. today. The track is slated to open for actual poker play for money on Friday morning.
The Charleston Gazette
October 12, 2007
24/7 racetrack operation OK’d
By Phil Kabler Staff writer
With Thursday’s unanimous vote of the Lottery Commission, the state’s four racetracks can operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
However, it could be days, perhaps weeks, before track employees and Lottery personnel are ready to do that, Lottery Director John Musgrave said.
“We have to make sure that they’re ready, and we have to make sure we’re ready, and that everyone is licensed who’s going to work the floor,” he said.
- advertisement -State Racing Association President John Cavacini said Mountaineer Racetrack and Gaming Resort in Chester and Wheeling Island Racetrack and Racing Center hope to test the waters with charity table games early next week.
Those test-runs would use tokens or play money instead of chips, and could help determine whether new table game employees at the tracks — as well as on-site Lottery personnel — are sufficiently trained and prepared.
The charity games would also let the tracks and Lottery make sure that surveillance cameras and other security measures work properly.
“Whether that happens Monday or Tuesday will depend on whether we’re ready and they’re ready,” Musgrave said of a test-run.
Commissioners Thursday also approved 292 pages of rules of play and standards of accounting and internal controls for table games — effectively, the Lottery’s handbook for supervising and regulating table games.
The rules cover everything from the proper manner for dealers to cut and shuffle cards to procedures for track personnel to report suspicious activity within the casino areas.
They also included detailed rules of play for seven-card stud poker, hold-’em poker, Omaha poker, five-card draw, five-card stud, three-card poker, four-card poker, pai gow poker, blackjack, craps and mini-craps, roulette, Big Six wheel, Let It Ride poker, Caribbean Stud poker and baccarat. Musgrave said the voluminous rules and regulations were prepared with the assistance of Spectrum Gaming, the international gaming consulting firm hired by the Lottery in August.
He said that once table gaming begins, the tracks will ease into daily operations. The tracks will begin with player-versus-player games such as hold-’em, before initiating games where the players play against the house, such as blackjack.
Eventually, the tracks will expand into more difficult games to supervise, such as craps and roulette.
- advertisement -While Thursday’s vote technically also applies to video lottery, Musgrave said it is likely to be six weeks or more before the Lottery has the technology in place to operate the video slot machines 24 hours a day.
The central computer system that operates the more than 12,000 machines at the tracks has to shut down the machines for about three hours each day to download and tabulate data, he said.
New software on order that would allow 24/7 video slot operations is being tested by the Lottery’s consulting firm, Gaming Labs International. The software will get additional in-house testing, Musgrave said.
“We would want to test it for several weeks to make sure it operates properly on our system,” he said.
Procedurally, the Lottery Commission would have to vote to approve the new software before it could go into use.
The 24/7 operation approved Thursday also applies to Charles Town Races and Slots, the only West Virginia track where county voters rejected table games.
To contact staff writer Phil Kabler, use e-mail or call 348-1220.
By Phil Kabler Staff writer
With Thursday’s unanimous vote of the Lottery Commission, the state’s four racetracks can operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
However, it could be days, perhaps weeks, before track employees and Lottery personnel are ready to do that, Lottery Director John Musgrave said.
“We have to make sure that they’re ready, and we have to make sure we’re ready, and that everyone is licensed who’s going to work the floor,” he said.
- advertisement -State Racing Association President John Cavacini said Mountaineer Racetrack and Gaming Resort in Chester and Wheeling Island Racetrack and Racing Center hope to test the waters with charity table games early next week.
Those test-runs would use tokens or play money instead of chips, and could help determine whether new table game employees at the tracks — as well as on-site Lottery personnel — are sufficiently trained and prepared.
The charity games would also let the tracks and Lottery make sure that surveillance cameras and other security measures work properly.
“Whether that happens Monday or Tuesday will depend on whether we’re ready and they’re ready,” Musgrave said of a test-run.
Commissioners Thursday also approved 292 pages of rules of play and standards of accounting and internal controls for table games — effectively, the Lottery’s handbook for supervising and regulating table games.
The rules cover everything from the proper manner for dealers to cut and shuffle cards to procedures for track personnel to report suspicious activity within the casino areas.
They also included detailed rules of play for seven-card stud poker, hold-’em poker, Omaha poker, five-card draw, five-card stud, three-card poker, four-card poker, pai gow poker, blackjack, craps and mini-craps, roulette, Big Six wheel, Let It Ride poker, Caribbean Stud poker and baccarat. Musgrave said the voluminous rules and regulations were prepared with the assistance of Spectrum Gaming, the international gaming consulting firm hired by the Lottery in August.
He said that once table gaming begins, the tracks will ease into daily operations. The tracks will begin with player-versus-player games such as hold-’em, before initiating games where the players play against the house, such as blackjack.
Eventually, the tracks will expand into more difficult games to supervise, such as craps and roulette.
- advertisement -While Thursday’s vote technically also applies to video lottery, Musgrave said it is likely to be six weeks or more before the Lottery has the technology in place to operate the video slot machines 24 hours a day.
The central computer system that operates the more than 12,000 machines at the tracks has to shut down the machines for about three hours each day to download and tabulate data, he said.
New software on order that would allow 24/7 video slot operations is being tested by the Lottery’s consulting firm, Gaming Labs International. The software will get additional in-house testing, Musgrave said.
“We would want to test it for several weeks to make sure it operates properly on our system,” he said.
Procedurally, the Lottery Commission would have to vote to approve the new software before it could go into use.
The 24/7 operation approved Thursday also applies to Charles Town Races and Slots, the only West Virginia track where county voters rejected table games.
To contact staff writer Phil Kabler, use e-mail or call 348-1220.
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The Intelligencer/ Wheeling News-Register
POSTED: October 16, 2007
POSTED: October 16, 2007
Tracks Deal Cards - Charity Poker Games Held at Casinos
By JOSELYN KING
WHEELING — He lives close to The Meadows, but Scott McKinnen of Washington, Pa., made the 35-mile drive Monday to Wheeling Island Racetrack and Gaming Center for a few hands of poker.
The racetrack opened the doors to its smoke-free poker room Monday for a charity event that benefited local organizations and served as a dry run training session for dealers and table gambling personnel. A second event is set for 4-8 p.m. today.
If all goes well, poker games for money will start at 10 a.m. Friday, according to Robert Marshall, president and general manager at the track. The track is to open at 7 a.m. that day and to remain open around the clock.
Similar games to benefit charity were held Monday and continue today at Mountaineer Race Track and Gaming Resort in Chester.
McKinnen was one of the first in line at Wheeling Island on Monday and said he came to the track “just to see what was going on.” He added he has been to The Meadows racetrack and video slot machine casino “a couple of times.”
“They don’t have table games,” McKinnen said. “I’m not much of a machine player.
“If The Meadows gets table gambling, I probably will go there,” he added. “It’s closer. But I’d still come down here once in a while.”
Though the dry run opening wasn’t widely publicized, visitors from Blacksburg, Va., and Canton, Ohio, were among the first to sit down at the Island gambling tables.
‘‘We learned about it just by chance,’’ said Julie Hoffman of Canton, who came with a friend. ‘‘We wanted to see the room.’’
Letha Penyak of Powhatan Point said it was curiosity that brought her out for the poker games, while Eric Knierim said the charity aspect was a major reason he came.
“It’s also a lot of fun,’’ Knierim added, saying he ‘‘absolutely’’ would be returning for more poker games at the track.
Proceeds from the poker events are to benefit the Wheeling Island WISH Foundation, Family Services Upper Ohio Valley, Wheeling Health Right, YWCA, The United Way-Upper Ohio Valley and the Soup Kitchen of Greater Wheeling.
Patrons are being asked to contribute $20. In return, they receive $100 in poker chips. Refreshments are provided to them, and their name is entered into a drawing for a door prize.
There are 20 tables in the poker room, and each can seat up to 10 players. This means as many as 200 can be at the poker tables at any given time.
And when the games officially start Friday, they will be non-stop, according to Marshall. Current plans call for the track to open at 7 a.m. Friday and to remain open 24 hours a day.
There will be daily poker tournaments at the track, and it will be a stop on the World Series of Poker Tour beginning Jan. 6.
“We’re not sure if we’ll have television coverage here, but we’d like to have it,” Marshall said. “They start with local tournaments, then it moves on to regionals.”
The poker room is on the lower level at the track, near the non-smoking area for slot machines and the new Jim Beam Sports Grill. Smoking is prohibited in the poker room, which is common in poker rooms in the United States, according to Marshall.
When roulette and blackjack games begin at the track in the coming months, these will be on the upper level of the track in the smoking areas. Smoking will be allowed at those tables, Marshall added.
By JOSELYN KING
WHEELING — He lives close to The Meadows, but Scott McKinnen of Washington, Pa., made the 35-mile drive Monday to Wheeling Island Racetrack and Gaming Center for a few hands of poker.
The racetrack opened the doors to its smoke-free poker room Monday for a charity event that benefited local organizations and served as a dry run training session for dealers and table gambling personnel. A second event is set for 4-8 p.m. today.
If all goes well, poker games for money will start at 10 a.m. Friday, according to Robert Marshall, president and general manager at the track. The track is to open at 7 a.m. that day and to remain open around the clock.
Similar games to benefit charity were held Monday and continue today at Mountaineer Race Track and Gaming Resort in Chester.
McKinnen was one of the first in line at Wheeling Island on Monday and said he came to the track “just to see what was going on.” He added he has been to The Meadows racetrack and video slot machine casino “a couple of times.”
“They don’t have table games,” McKinnen said. “I’m not much of a machine player.
“If The Meadows gets table gambling, I probably will go there,” he added. “It’s closer. But I’d still come down here once in a while.”
Though the dry run opening wasn’t widely publicized, visitors from Blacksburg, Va., and Canton, Ohio, were among the first to sit down at the Island gambling tables.
‘‘We learned about it just by chance,’’ said Julie Hoffman of Canton, who came with a friend. ‘‘We wanted to see the room.’’
Letha Penyak of Powhatan Point said it was curiosity that brought her out for the poker games, while Eric Knierim said the charity aspect was a major reason he came.
“It’s also a lot of fun,’’ Knierim added, saying he ‘‘absolutely’’ would be returning for more poker games at the track.
Proceeds from the poker events are to benefit the Wheeling Island WISH Foundation, Family Services Upper Ohio Valley, Wheeling Health Right, YWCA, The United Way-Upper Ohio Valley and the Soup Kitchen of Greater Wheeling.
Patrons are being asked to contribute $20. In return, they receive $100 in poker chips. Refreshments are provided to them, and their name is entered into a drawing for a door prize.
There are 20 tables in the poker room, and each can seat up to 10 players. This means as many as 200 can be at the poker tables at any given time.
And when the games officially start Friday, they will be non-stop, according to Marshall. Current plans call for the track to open at 7 a.m. Friday and to remain open 24 hours a day.
There will be daily poker tournaments at the track, and it will be a stop on the World Series of Poker Tour beginning Jan. 6.
“We’re not sure if we’ll have television coverage here, but we’d like to have it,” Marshall said. “They start with local tournaments, then it moves on to regionals.”
The poker room is on the lower level at the track, near the non-smoking area for slot machines and the new Jim Beam Sports Grill. Smoking is prohibited in the poker room, which is common in poker rooms in the United States, according to Marshall.
When roulette and blackjack games begin at the track in the coming months, these will be on the upper level of the track in the smoking areas. Smoking will be allowed at those tables, Marshall added.
Photos by Scott McCloskeyPatria Bledsoe of Wheeling, a new card dealer employee at the Wheeling Island Racetrack and Gaming Center, deals during the first poker games at the track Monday night. The racetrack opened the doors to its poker room for a charity event that served as practice for its dealers and table gambling personnel, and a similar event is to happen from 4-8 p.m. today. The track is slated to open for actual poker play for money on Friday morning.******************************
That's right boys and girls...it could be as early as this FRIDAY, October 19th, that the poker room in Wheeling will be in FULL swing. See you all there real soon, as a matter of fact, "some" of us may be headed up on Veteran's Day weekend.
In the meantime, however, there's a game to be played at the Yanok's on Friday...and at my house on Saturday.
Regards,
cheer_dad
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