ShareThisBy TOM BARNES
Monday, November 20, 2006
Thousands of lights flashed and blinked on slot machines, while the deafening sound of bells, bongs and sirens went off. Pneumatic "confetti cannons" showered the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs with paper chips and streamers, while loudspeakers boomed out Gretchen Wilson singing "Here For The Party."
And were they ever! Several thousand slots gamblers poured into the first casino ever to open in Pennsylvania, where history was made Tuesday.
After 18 months of planning and construction, the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, which for 10 years has operated a huge casino in Connecticut, opened its $72.6 million "temporary" casino in a two-story steel-and-glass building holding 1,096 slot machines at a 40-year-old harness racing track five miles east of Wilkes-Barre.
"We've been waiting for this a long time," said Rose Zemantauski of Moosic, 10 miles away. "I absolutely love it. It's gorgeous. I could sit at a slot machine for 12 hours."
"I would rather play cards, but my wife is a big slots girl," said her husband, Mike, who can't play cards at the casino because Pennsylvania doesn't allow table gaming. But he's still glad about the new casino, saying, "I'm getting tired of driving 185 miles to Atlantic City."
Also excited were two senior citizens wearing Pittsburgh Steelers shirts with "Roethlisberger" on the back.
"We're from New York state, four miles over the border, but we love Pittsburgh because my husband had his kidney transplant (there)," said Dorothy Degen, who was standing in line with husband Edward to get a "players card," a piece of plastic the size of a credit card that tracks how long they play at a slot machine and earns them "rewards" such as free food, drinks and items at the gift shop.
There were seven long lines of customers who wanted to sign up for players cards, with at least 25 people in each line.
The crowd was especially large, Tuesday being the first day, with about 1,800 people pouring through the doors in the first hour, said casino marketing director Jim Wise. Every slot machine was occupied for much of the day.
"Pennsylvania did the right thing by legalizing slots," said Andy Witinski of Hanover, a few miles from here. "It's a hassle to drive to Atlantic City. I'd rather spend my money here than in New Jersey."
The advent of slots is the first major change to legalized gambling in Pennsylvania since the state lottery started in March 1972.
"This is a tremendous day for Pennsylvanians as a new industry takes wing," said Doug Harbach, a spokesman for the state Gaming Control Board.
(Tom Barnes can be reached at tbarnes(at)post-gazette.com.)
