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After dark on the windowless Blue Chip Casino, up the shallow waters of Trail Creek, no windows, no decks, no views of the water, and dealers screaming in their own Las Vegas code: "Color coming in!" "Red light! "Break!"
At the Caribbean stud poker tables at the Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City, Ind., the lighted sign with the progressive jackpot says you get about $33,000 if you hit a royal flush. But at the $5 game, there are two guys staring glumly at their hands. The dealer's hand shows a nine of clubs, the other cards sleeping.
"Nothing, nothing," mutters the thin fellow in the NAPA cap. He throws his hand down in disgust.
The other guy moves three $5 chips to the little patch on the felt that says "bet." He snorts.
The dealer, a perky, washed-out redhead, smacks her gum and efficiently reveals a queen of hearts, a jack of spades, an eight of diamonds and a six of clubs. Her name tag says she's from Chesterton. There are other dealers here from LaPorte, South Bend, Union Pier, even Chicago.
The guy with the bet - a fleshy fellow with a moustache like a muskrat - snorts again.
"All right, whatcha got?" the dealer says, flipping his cards over. She smacks that gum. It's an ordinary quintet, except for the ace of clubs. At the Blue Chip, the dealer qualifies only if she's holding a king, ace, pair or higher.
"He is one patient son of a gun," says the NAPA cap guy of the winner, who just sits and snorts again. "He's been winning $5 here, $5 there and look at 'im." The guy's got two stacks of $25 chips, each about 10 high. "He started like me, with $100. But he sucked up all the luck."
They play another hand. This time the NAPA cap guy bets on a pair of sixes. The snorter bows out. But the dealer pulls out two jacks and rakes in the chips.
"I can't leave the table," says the NAPA cap guy. "I gotta play out my hour here. I play an hour at the first table I come to, that's my religion. Even if he sucked out all the luck." He says he spends $100 a visit, that's all. "If I don't win then, I go home," he says. "But I win some almost every time."
At the Blue Chip, everybody says they're winning, whether at the poker or blackjack tables, throwing die in craps, jerking the slot machines or palming the video games. But somebody, somewhere, must be losing - and losing big time - because the Blue Chip just concluded one fabulous profitmaking year in this otherwise sleepy little Indiana town.
Since dealing its first card in August, 1997, the Blue Chip has paid out more than $30 million in state and municipal taxes and made more than $100 million in profit, according to the casino.
Looking like a white whale, the Blue Chip Casino is a huge cruiser wading in the shallow waters of Trail Creek. It's a giant, windowless vessel that travels a mere 1,200 feet up and down the expanded
channel. Inside, there are no windows, no decks, no views of the water or the town, no clocks. There are three restaurants, and the waiters offer free coffee and soda to players. It's all one glorious, spacious gaming palace, with lots of blinking lights, a spiraling staircase, bright colors, the whir of machines, clanging of coins, and dealers screaming in their own Las Vegas code: "Color coming in!" "Red light!" "Break!"
The ship "takes off" every hour or so, sometimes closing its doors to take its short creep down the channel. Folks hang around the spacious waiting area before boarding. They're middle-aged mostly, working-class. They come in groups of retirees, in couples or, in the case of some younger men, alone, pulling wads of bills out of their back pockets.
In one case, a young fellow, obviously a little tanked, plunks five $100 bills down at the roulette table. "Red, red," he says, swaying.
The dealer, who knows to wait until the money's flat on the table, waves him off. "You don't want to do that," he says.
The guy picks up his bills, embarrassed, and shuffles off.
"He's been by here every day, losing that kind of money," the dealer says to his crowd of regulars. "I don't know what he does for a living, but I don't think he can afford this anymore."
Somehow, in spite of the Vegas act, it's still a small town here.
Sunday through Thursday, boarding begins at 9 a.m., last boarding's at 1 a.m., Friday and Saturday, boarding begins at 9 a.m., last boarding's at 3 a.m., Blue Chip Casino, 2 Easy St., Michigan City, Ind. Call 219-879-7711. Blue Chip is wheelchair accessible (even a pair of blackjack tables).
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