Another New Chip

The newest chip to join my collection is the $5 house chip from the Ameristar Casino in St. Charles, MO (near St. Louis). The casino is a "riverboat" situated on the mighty Missouri River. The riverboat doesn't even pretend to act as a boat, the casino is attached to the parking garage/hotel on land. Inside, it's bright and shiny and new looking (being 5 or so years old will do that), but it's nothing special. There is a metric ton of penny slots on both levels. Yes, penny slots. I witnessed a guy hit a 'jackpot' on one of them. Whilst wandering around, I noticed a group of people standing behind a guy, as his slot machine was running through a pay-out. Everyone was amazed at his massive winnings, a solid 10,000 units. Until you realized that on a penny machine, that's $100. Woo-hoo. I wonder if that old guy will get to retire now? Which reminds me, the casino itself was pretty empty. Sure it was a Monday night (President's Day to be exact), but it was empty. Pretty standard collection of old people, oxygen tanks and old people with oxygen tanks. Only a handful of blackjack tables ($15 min.) and other assorted table games. Not the worst I've ever seen, but I would definitely check out the other 3 St. Louis-area casinos before going back to the Ameristar. Which, by the way, wins the award for lamest casino name ever. So they at least have that going for them.

New Chip

Still no new camera, so no picture right now of my newest addition - the $5 house chip from the Odawa Casino Resort in Petoskey, MI. Opened in 2007, it was a really nice place. Pretty clean, and not beaten down by years of chain-smoking. Yet. They had a decent amount of blackjack tables, and they've yet fallen victim to the devious automated shuffle machines, so they've got that going for them. I think I won $20 playing for about 15 minutes. We were eager to leave and get to the bar after Monika won $1500 on the Wheel of Fortune progressive machines.

The Odawa did have a "dance club" located inside, called the 'O-Zone.' I was fairly certain we'd spend some time there and it would provide us with a lot of unintentional humor, but once Monika won her big prize, I kind of forgot about suggesting we go there. Next time, I will definitely have a report on the 'O-Zone.' And hopefully a new camera by then.