Neon Dice

For Labor Day I spent a few nights up in the northwest in Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia. Both are very pretty places that I recommend visiting, but this is a gambling blog, so let’s get to the point. While in Vancouver my wife pointed out a flier about a downtown casino. It didn’t look like anything special, but I thought it could be fun to see what a Canadian casino is like.

So one morning I walked to the casino to scope it out. It is located near the arena that the Vancouver Canucks play in and is a relatively small property. Also, it is government owned. This is the same idea they tried to pitch for a Chicago downtown casino. But for Vancouver it means that the money headed to the government isn’t just restricted to taxes, but basically all casino profits.

Even though the casino flier advertised Craps, I couldn’t seem to find a table anywhere. Baccarat was packed as was four-card poker. I decided to sit down at a blackjack table just to see if the canadian version was any different than that we play in the states. The short answer is yes it’s different, and I’ll have more on that in the next post.

I thought about playing some video poker, but the pay tables were some of the worst I have ever seen. Not only was it a 6/5 machine, but it only returned 35 for a four-of-a-kind instead of the traditional 40. So there was no way I was going to play that game. The casino itself had an interesting vibe. Being government owned and run, it felt like any machines probably were going to have terrible odds. It’s hard to describe, but the casino felt very similar and simultaneously very different.

At the end of the day, it’s a casino. If gambling is what you want to do, than the Edgewater casino will provide that. Everyone that worked there was very friendly and the experience was pleasant. I have to say, I like the idea of a government owned and run casino for the Chicago area. It seems to be working well in Canada, so why not try it here in the States?