Brand New Year, same old Casino Journal. Hope you all had a pleasant holiday. We spent it by watching the "Ice Bowl" spectacle, the Pens-Sabres hockey game up in snow-swept Buffalo. Had we made the drive up there for the game, you betcha we would have stopped for some hot wings and a beef-on-weck, but we also would have made time for the Senaca Indian casino in downtown.

And who needs one of those palatial Las Vegas casinos? If you ever wanted proof that gamblers will literally gamble in a warehouse if need be, check out the photo of the temporary casino:

The news is that the Seneca Nation of Indians wants to enlarge the temporary casino, because it's drawing so many gamblers. That casino will remain open (barring a court-imposed closure) until the permanent, $333 million casino opens, an event scheduled for mid-2010.

... A man of the cloth is, caught up this nasty Louis DeNaples grand jury investigation:

"A Scranton Catholic priest was charged this morning with perjury in connection with statements he made before a grand jury investigating whether Louis A. DeNaples lied in his application to operate a casino in the Poconos. The Rev. Joseph F. Sica allegedly lied about his relationship with late crime boss Russell Bufalino, according to the Dauphin County district attorney's office. Father Sica told the grand jury that he met Mr. Bufalino in passing and had no relationship with him, but contradictory evidence surfaced. It included photographs of the two arm-in-arm and a letter to former Pennsylvania First Lady Ginny Thornburgh in which Father Sica called Mr. Bufalino 'a friend.'"

That happened this morning.

More from the grand jury investigation, from the AP:

"In recently unsealed court documents, Dauphin County prosecutors say the grand jury's investigation 'has uncovered substantial evidence demonstrating that DeNaples lied in his sworn testimony' to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. At hand is the question of whether DeNaples has ties to organized crime figures, prosecutors said in the documents."

Notes from the border

The P-G reported last month on the debut of table games in West Virginia casinos. The Charleston Daily Mail is reporting today the effect of those games:

"Two Northern Panhandle tracks have kept their word on hiring. The Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort in Chester has hired 725 employees and the Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack has added 500 to the payroll. Those promised jobs were a key part of the sales pitch used to get voter approval for table games at the tracks."

That's more than 1,200 jobs in all.

Smoke if you got 'em ...

... but not in Illinois, whose statewide no-smoking-in-the-workplace law went into effect Jan. 1.

How will that play in casinos?

"They've been puffing away at penny and nickel slots in the glitzy Casino Queen, taking slow drags playing video poker at the bar and lighting up in the hallways while digesting winnings or losses. But as of Tuesday, smokers will have to try their luck elsewhere. Illinois' indoor-smoking ban applies to its nine casinos, triggering bitterness in the gaming halls and uncertainties over the possible economic impact. On the Illinois side of the Mississippi River, the economic fallout could be swift and dramatic, analysts say. Three casinos from Rock Island to East St. Louis border ones in Iowa and Missouri where smoking bans are not under consideration."

So will gamblers head across the bridge so they can smoke? If you could smoke in West Virginia, but not in Pittsburgh or The Meadows, would it be worth the drive for a pack-a-day smoker? Seems so:

"Illinois gaming operators predict a sudden drop in business statewide of about 20 percent, a $380-plus million loss, they say. They estimate at least a $144 million drop annually in the state's share of gambling taxes and predict a $20-plus million loss in local government tax receipts from casinos. Gambling netted more than $830 million in 2006 for state and local coffers, the Illinois Gaming Board said."

Odds and ends

How gambling helped an impoverished Mississippi county (a description that could technically apply to any of Mississippi's 80-some counties)... The first summer racing season at the new Presque Isle Downs Racetrack & Casino begins May 9 and ends Sept. 27 ... 2008 racing purses are increasing in Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Park ... Kansas is mulling casinos ... Same goes for Kentucky ... The Meadows changes hands ... You, too, can win the penny slots!

Last, before you think about spending hours and hours researching the math of blackjack, know that it might well get you banned from the very casino you hope to play in:

"Bill [has] been barred from playing blackjack at two Northwest Indiana casinos, not for breaking any laws but for being a person deemed an undesirable guest for being able to play blackjack too skillfully. At one of the properties, Blue Chip Casino & Hotel in Michigan City, he has been denied access to even set foot on the grounds... . But is it fair? Bill doesn't deny he is a skilled player, but neither is he a high roller or a member of a team bent on taking the casinos for millions. He's an average guy who invested the time and effort it took to learn the math of the game and then set out with a $1,000 bankroll to see what he could do."

What he did was beat the house, over time.

The house doesn't like that.