Island Resort and Casino

The Island Resort and Casino is located in Harris, MI, about 10 minutes from Escanaba. I think it used to be called the Chip-In Casino. Slick name change, what with the casino being on a peninsula and all. It used to have an indoor beach as well, but alas, that is gone, too.

As of January 2005, this place was remarkably the 12th largest casino in the United States (Based on floor space dedicated to gambling). Yes, that's right... the 12th largest. In a town 99.5% of Americans couldn't find on a map if given a 750 mile radius circle to slap down on a map. The other top casinos are predictably from Vegas, Connecticut (Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun), the Eagle (checking in at number 7), AC, and Tunica. Not too hard to figure out which city doesn't belong. In a town of 15,000 they have 135,000 square feet of floor space to gamble on (not too mention another ten or so casinos in the U.P.). That's 9 feet per person. Not too shabby. Of course, my 9 feet always includes 3 chain-smoking 75 year old ladies fresh off the bus... but I guess that's my problem.

On my most recent visit to the U.P., I added the Millennium chip to my collection. I was playing $5 double-deck... and it was being played at a breakneck pace. We got through 3 hands before shuffling. Every time. It started with just 3 of us playing, but before we even got through a round... the table filled up. Most of the players were lugging oxygen machines (yay middle of the day gambling!!). A smokey casino is right where I'd want to be if I were on oxygen, but whatever. The ones that weren't struggling to breathe, were struggling to add. Quite a collection.

As an added bonus, you could only double on a dealt 10 or 11. No doubling on any soft plays. Of course, the sign didn't mention that so when I was dealt Ace-four against a six and doubled, I brought the table to a screeching halt. So sorry to delay your $5 win or loss by another 6 seconds. But, other than that rule... it was a pretty decent set-up, rules-wise. They cut fairly deep (probably half the deck), but I expected that sitting at a double-deck table. It certainly beat the Eagle's devilish continuous shuffle machines.

For the hour or so I played, I ended up $12.50 in the positive. Take that you oxygen lovers.