The first table games opened Thursday morning at three western Pennsylvania casinos, welcomed by hundreds of early risers who wanted to be the first in the state to try their luck at craps, poker and other games. Casino officials in Washington and Erie celebrated the new games with ribbon cuttings, while in Pittsburgh gamblers were met at the tables at 6 a.m. by hostesses carrying doughnuts and orange juice.
"Let the games begin," Bill Paulos, a principal of Las Vegas-based Cannery Casino Resorts, the Meadows' owner, said as a growing number of gamblers began arriving.
The first at the craps tables at 6 a.m. was Jerry Testa, 47, of nearby Moon Township. He woke up his wife Terri, 45, more than three hours earlier so they'd be there when the tables opened. And she came dressed for the occasion, with black and white dice dangling from her earrings and bracelet and a silver roulette wheel charm - that spun - on a chain around her neck.
"I've played in a lot of casinos around the country and across the world, and I figured since it was now in my hometown I wanted to be the first to throw the dice," Jerry Testa said.
Throughout the morning, the couple split their time between the craps and roulette tables, where Jerry Testa played his favorite - 8 black - on each spin. He said he always plays the same numbers, which correspond to family members' birthdates.
"Oh, there we go. Finally hit it," he said as the small ball spinning in the opposite direction of the wheel fell into the slot for the number 8, making him a winner.
The first slots casinos in Pennsylvania opened in 2006. Last year, Gov. Ed Rendell and top legislators included the legalization of table games as part of a handshake deal to raise more revenue for the recession-battered state treasury. Lawmakers passed the bill in January.
Payment of licensing fees by the state's nine operating casinos and an additional casino expected to open later this year brought in $165 million in June. During the next 12 months, tens of millions of dollars are expected to flow to the state and some local governments from a 16 percent tax on the casinos' take at the tables.
The casinos expect to hire about 4,400 new employees by the end of the year, a number that includes dealers, pit bosses, cashiers and others needed because of the addition of table games.
Dealer Marie Trozzo, of Donora, sat at a mini baccarat table with both her arms resting on a compartment housing hundreds of dollars in chips. She had no gamblers yet, and was eager to start flipping her first cards.
At 69, Trozzo was one of the older dealers on the floor. The retired state government worker who lives on a fixed income decided to get a job to make some extra money for repairs on her home - and being at a casino fits her bubbly personality, she said.
"I like being where the action is," said Trozzo, wearing the uniform black shirt with red diamonds that all the dealers sported.
Casino officials expect the table games to draw customers in the door who normally would go to West Virginia or other states for the games. Also, they say table games will bring a new kind of player in the door; while slots traditionally attract women, table games historically bring in more men.
That was true Thursday at the Meadows, where the tables in the downstairs poker room and upstairs at tables on the main casino floor were packed mostly with men, of all ages.
Ed Goetz, 60, of Burgettstown, played blackjack at a table with a $10 minimum bet. He said he had only been to the Meadows once before, for the horse racing, but plans to come now about once a week to play at the tables.
"I'm waiting to strike it rich here," he joked.
Doug Black, 71, of Carmichaels, sat down at the blackjack tables and plunked $190 in cash on the table. He said he prefers the table games to slots because there is some thought, and even a little skill, involved.
Black has been to the casinos in West Virginia, but said he'll probably come back to the Meadows, under one condition:
"If I win," he said.
