By CORY MATTESON
Star-Tribune staff writer Sunday, May 28, 2006
RIVERTON -- At about 10:30 Saturday morning, Wind River Casino table games manager Peggy Black and several security guards unhooked the chain encircling four tables that have become the center of attention here.
With them were two fellow employees, wearing glistening tuxedo vests and carrying two white boxes -- each holding eight fresh decks of Gemaco playing cards.
The tuxedoed dealers counted, shuffled and sorted the decks, and when the clock struck 11, five people filled all but one seat at Wyoming’s only legal, blackjack table.
“We’re in business,” Black said Friday night, when all four tables were open and full. Blackjack debuted at the Wind River Casino on Friday, May 19, but stopped midweek due to some “red tape” Black said the casino encountered.
Not since 1901, when gambling was prohibited in Wyoming were people allowed to double down on a game of blackjack. The Northern Arapaho tribe, whose members live on the Wind River Indian reservation, were granted the right to do so in part by a 1988 law that governs gaming on Indian lands.
Gambling has had a checkered past in Wyoming dating back to the earliest parts of the 20th century. In 1935, the Legislature voted to legalize casino gambling, only to be rebuffed by Gov. Leslie Miller, who vetoed the measure.
The card game at Wind River was up and running again Memorial Day weekend. Patrons fed the gaming machines surrounding the blackjack island, but others hovered over the shoulders of those holding on to their seats and chips at the tables and waited for an open seat.
Now that the Arapahoe-run casino has Class 3 gaming status, the solitary nature of Wyoming gambling is changing, Black said. Where customers were once isolated in front of their own slot machines, now “people get to sit side by side and have fun,” Black said.
The Saturday morning card players at the $3 minimum table contributed to the casino the kind of chatter you find in Vegas.
“They should have a game called ‘22,’” said one player from Rock Springs, after he busted.
Black said people at the tables have told her they’re having a blast, despite the lack of alcohol on the premises. Without yet advertising the availability of the card game, Black said the tables have been packed with people from all over the state.
The casino currently has four tables centered in the middle of its main room. The table minimums range from $3 on two of the tables, to $5 on one and $10 on the biggest table. Black said she noticed several people placing the maximum $500 bet on several hands.
It’s a welcome sight for the casino staff, Black said.
Wanda Harris, one of 14 blackjack dealers on staff, said she’s been training since October for the game's debut. Because she wasn’t able to make a living dealing cards, she spent the better part of the last seven months working in the casino’s deli. When she finished flipping a hamburger on the grill, she habitually slapped her hands clean.
“No burgers up my sleeve,” she said as she prepared to open her table Saturday morning.
BREAKOUTS:
The Wind River Casino currently offers blackjack from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., Monday through Friday. On Saturday, play begins at 11 a.m. and continues to 3 a.m. On Sunday, play begins at 2 p.m. and concludes at midnight. Table games manager Peggy Black said hours will soon be expanding.
Wind River Casino house blackjack rules:
The dealer must:
Hit a soft 17.
Stand on a hard 17, and any 18, 19, 20 or 21.
The player:
Can double down on a 10 or 11.
Can split aces once.
Cannot split and double on one hand.
Must bet a minimum of the double the table minimum when playing two hands.
Must bet a minimum of five times the table minimum when playing three hands.
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