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Last PA casino license granted, how will it work out?
| June 2nd, 2011 at 7:22:20 PM permalink | |
| DJTeddyBear Member since: Nov 2, 2009 Threads: 105 Posts: 5714 | Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner. Superstitions are silly, childish, irrational rituals, born out of fear of the unknown.
But how much does it cost to knock on wood? |
| June 2nd, 2011 at 8:18:07 PM permalink | |
| RaleighCraps Member since: Feb 20, 2010 Threads: 29 Posts: 601 | I was on the craps table at Mt Airy for the first live roll of the dice the day they opened table games in PA. Since they were brand new it is probably not fair to rate them too harshly, but I was not impressed. So-so craps rules, and I had to pay for beer. Doubt I will ever go back, especially since I can drive 30 miles and go to Mohegan Sun in Pocono Downs. I have been to Hollywood 3 or 4 times, and it is okay. Still paying for the beer, and the craps rules are still marginal, but overall it was okay. I don't have any qualms about going back, even though I have yet to win a session there. Mohegan Sun in Pocono Downs I have been to once and I liked it. More upscale and definitely seemed to try and bring more glitz. Beer was free if you were betting $25 or more. They had a number of upscale restaurants to choose from. I will certainly be stopping there on my trips back through PA each year. When I was winning on the craps tables I could have played in a dump and probably would not have cared one bit. However, since I was running bad in '10, I had to look at the value of the total experience, and I found losing money in a sweat joint to be very unrewarding. Always borrow money from a pessimist; They don't expect to get paid back !
Be yourself and speak your thoughts. Those who matter won't mind, and those that mind, won't matter! |
| June 2nd, 2011 at 9:29:23 PM permalink | |
| pacomartin Member since: Jan 14, 2010 Threads: 545 Posts: 6200 |
I think that statement says it all. On average most people are driving less than 100 miles to get to these casinos, so if you are willing to pass one by and drive an extra 30 miles, that is meaningful. Louis has put the Mt Airy casino in the name of his family since the pressure has gotten pretty severe, but I think they will force him to sell the property, or take the casino away, and put it another resort in the county. Wine loved I deeply, dice dearly -Edgar, betrayed son of Gloucester in King Lear |
| June 3rd, 2011 at 4:48:07 AM permalink | |
| Niblick Member since: Dec 12, 2009 Threads: 15 Posts: 108 |
Concurrent with the rumblings surrounding Mount Airy and its license we have the ongoing corruption investigations in NEPA. The most recent episodes have something like 30 people in a local county courthouse going to jail (with judges, etc.), public officials going to jail, a state senator being indicted, another state senator apparently soon be to indicted, county commissioners awaiting trials/sentencing--and in the middle of all of this, rightly or wrongly, invariably appears the name DeNaples...or in the alternative, his bank, First National Community Bank. And we may very well be at the beginning stages... It is truly amazing that while most of the talk centers around Mount Airy, somehow Mohegan Sun--Pocono Downs (located about 1-2 miles away from the epicenter of this corruption thing, Pittston) has managed to steer clear of all of this. Funny thing...the next good word I hear about Mount Airy will be the first; has anybody heard anything said positive about the place? Nemo Omnibus Horis Sapit |
| June 3rd, 2011 at 5:16:36 AM permalink | |
| DJTeddyBear Member since: Nov 2, 2009 Threads: 105 Posts: 5714 | I can remember one thing that impressed me. And I mentioned this in the review I posted here last year. When I signed up for a player's card, they scanned the bar code on the back of my driver's license and got all my data that way. And that was several years ago, shortly after they first opened. I've never seen another casino do that. It ain't much, but it IS one positive thing about the place... (For the record, I've only been there twice. The second time was shortly after table games opened.) Superstitions are silly, childish, irrational rituals, born out of fear of the unknown.
But how much does it cost to knock on wood? |
| June 3rd, 2011 at 1:08:49 PM permalink | |
| teddys Member since: Nov 14, 2009 Threads: 100 Posts: 2723 | Interesting stuff about the N.E. Pa. Mafia, paco. By the way, we used to drive throught Apalachin every year when we would vacation in the Catskills. My dad would always mention the Apalachin meeting. "If you can make one heap of all your winnings / And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss / And lose, and start again at your beginnings / And never breathe a word about your loss..." -Rudyard Kipling |
| June 3rd, 2011 at 2:30:33 PM permalink | |
| pacomartin Member since: Jan 14, 2010 Threads: 545 Posts: 6200 |
Apalachin is actually about 5 miles north of the northern border of NE Pennsylvania. Over 100 mafia bosses attended the meeting. The LIFE story was (9 Dec 1957 BIG SHOTS OF CRIME APALACHIN NY)  Louis DeNaples would have been fairly young during the meeting. He has turned over ownership of the casino to his daughter to try and protect the asset. Billy Crystal as "The Doctor" in Analyze This. Wine loved I deeply, dice dearly -Edgar, betrayed son of Gloucester in King Lear |
| June 4th, 2011 at 6:07:58 AM permalink | |
| Niblick Member since: Dec 12, 2009 Threads: 15 Posts: 108 |
Come to think of it, I seem to recall something nice being said about a $7.77 Thursday buffett... Funny thing is that I live about 30 minutes away and the place isn't even on my radar--and I don't know why. Nemo Omnibus Horis Sapit |
| June 4th, 2011 at 7:40:32 AM permalink | |
| pacomartin Member since: Jan 14, 2010 Threads: 545 Posts: 6200 |  My ex-wife is from Lackawanna County adjacent to Monroe County where Mt. Airy casino. Her family was involved in trucking. If you ever know someone who is the victim of these mobs you don't want to help finance them. If you are from New Jersey to the east of I287 (where most people in NJ live), then it is the same driving distance to Bethlehem Sands as it is to Mt. Airy. Personally, I think you are better off with helping the bottom line of the mega corporation than the mafia. In general, however, the greed level of corporations and even government can be higher than the mob ever was. Mount Airy 11 poker tables, 61 gaming tables Mohegan Sun 18 poker tables, 66 gaming tables Sands Bethlehem 23 poker tables, 77 gaming tables PARX 47 poker tables, 104 gaming tables, 11 electronic Wine loved I deeply, dice dearly -Edgar, betrayed son of Gloucester in King Lear |
| August 13th, 2011 at 5:56:45 AM permalink | |
| SanchoPanza Member since: May 10, 2010 Threads: 24 Posts: 734 | Well, it seems that Pennsylvania plans to continue its pretty favorable blackjack rules. "At the blackjack tables, Pennsylvania lures gamblers with sweeter odds than Atlantic City casinos By MARK GRUETZE For The Press | Posted: Friday, August 12, 2011 8:15 pm Pennsylvania’s casino blackjack rules, which are slightly more player-friendly than New Jersey’s, should remain unchanged, the commonwealth’s Gaming Control Board is recommending. Table game rules for Pennsylvania must be reviewed because they were made effective for only two years when the state rushed to get the games started last year. Before Pennsylvania launched table games in July 2010, the Gaming Control Board established rules for all its casinos. Among them are rules that all player blackjacks — an ace and 10-value card on the first two cards — be paid at 3-to-2, or $15 for each $10 bet. Another is that the dealer stands on a soft 17, or ace-six. New Jersey casinos are allowed to offer single-deck games in which blackjacks pay 6-to-5, or $12 for each $10 bet, and the dealer hits on a soft 17. But 6-to-5 single-deck blackjack games, popular when first introduced seven years ago, are now rare in Atlantic City and most casinos are paying 3-to-2, just as in Pennsylvania. Several casinos have rules where the dealer hits a soft 17, especially on the lower-limit tables. Pennsylvania rules also include allowing players to double their bets on any two cards, doubling after splitting pairs and “late surrender,” in which a bettor may give up half a bet after the cards are dealt instead of playing the hand. In New Jersey, regulations allow players to double down and double on split pairs; casinos also have the discretion of offering patrons a surrender option; however, Atlantic City casinos rarely offer the late surrender. The website WizardOfOdds.com states that Pennsylvania’s current rules combine to reduce the house edge to about 0.33 percent for players adhering to basic strategy, which is a mathematically proven playing system. A 0.33 percent edge means a player will lose, on average, 33 cents on an initial $10 bet. That’s less than the house edge in most Las Vegas and Atlantic City games. The house edge using traditional Atlantic City blackjack rules is 0.4 percent for six-deck games and 0.43 percent for eight-deck games for players using a perfect basic strategy. Michael Shackleford, a former Social Security Administration actuary who operates the Wizard of Odds site, said allowing 6-to-5 payouts would increase the house edge to almost 1.4 percentage points, or almost four times the current level."--Atlantic City Press |
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