*** MIA -

*** MIA - *** 5c 9/6 JoB. 5c/10c 8/5 BP. 25c 9/6 DB. 25c 9/6 DB PROG (RF) .

All of the old "Las Vegas" style VP machines were removed about 3 months ago and everything is VLT games now, just like all the other Washington Indian casinos.  The Spokane tribe recently signed an agreement with the state, after years of litigation and confrontation.  The agreement requires they replace all the old LV slots they smuggled in years ago (including VP, and Keno games) with VLT gear.  The lady I talked to said everything was replaced, and in fact they don't even offer any VP today ... even the phony VLT VP.  She sounded sad when she told me.  I did not drive up there for a visit to verify this, but based on their contract with the state I was expecting this to happen. There are several tribal casinos near us, in northern Idaho, but I have never found any decent VP.

The Chewelah Indian Casino is in northeastern Washington, about 60 miles north of Spokane, Washington (the nearest city). Of course, that means most on this board will never get there, but on the outside chance a few will, here is a rundown on the VP there. This is not 100% complete, but it's close. All VP machines spill coins. Some, but not all, have bill acceptors. These appear to be old machines from Nevada ... some even have Arizona Charlie's logos. They do not have a formal comp system (no players card), but they do have numerous promotions, discounts on meals, daily "specials", etc. The casino is fairly modern inside, and the open air parking lot is paved ... no long walks here. There is a dinner buffet, and pretty good food (not fancy). Bonus Poker (10 cent) 8/5: 99.1660% Bonus Poker (5 cent) 7/5: 98.0147% Jacks or Better (5 cent) 9/6: 99.5439% Jacks or Better (5 cent) 8/5: 97.2984% These games have a progressive RF for each standalone machine. At $433 the return reaches 100%. DBP (25 cent) w/RF Progressive: 97.8062% (4000/250/800/400/250/45/30/25/15/5/5) DBP (25 cent) (Called "Cayote Poker") w/o Progressive RF: 97.8062% (Same pay schedule as DBP above) Super Aces (25 cent) 7/5/4/3/1/1: 93.1060% Bonus Poker Delux (25 cent) 96.2526% (4000/250/400/35/25/20/15/5/5) Deuces Wild (5 cent) 94.8182% (200/25/15/10/4/3/2/2/1) Deuces Wild (25 cent) 96.7651% (200/25/16/13/4/3/2/2/1) Multi-Play (discussed in a post yesterday ... which evidently can be analyzed using Frugal VP). The Spokane Tribe has a Title 31 Compliance Program. In other words, it isn't a good choice for money laundering in > $10,000 amounts.

I recently visited 3 of the 4 casinos operated by the Spokane Indian tribe in the eastern part of Washington state. They were the Double Eagle Casino and Chewelah Casino, near Chewelah, Washington, and the Two Rivers Casino near Davenport, Washington. All of them, particularly Two Rivers, are very remote. These casinos offer "Nevada Style" gambling. This is NOT the Type 3 gaming found at other Washington casinos. Many machines, but not all, have bill acceptors, and every machine spills coins. There is no "Players Club" system, but there are drawings, senior discounts, and assorted other "specials" offered. Many of the machines I saw are by IGT ... probably the machines you would see in Nevada 10-15 years ago. Many are the same machines you see in Nevada today, but older versions, such as Double Diamond and Wild Cherry slots. I did see a few machines that I believe are fairly new, but most are quite old. As far as VP is concerned, well .... pretty bad pay schedules. But I didn't have time to check them all. If I find something good later I will mention it. I did play an 8/5 Bonus Poker game (10 cent denomination!) that had "Arizona Charles" written on the back of the cards before the deal button is pressed. I also played a Hot Aces games with a very awkward key placement. The "Max Bet" key was next to the "Bet 1" key (on the left) and the other keys did not line up with the cards. Very easy to make a mistake, which I did. All three casinos have some very interesting slots ... many I've never seen before. Double Eagle Casino, in particular, has a huge number of very unusual slots. In a way, this seems to be sort of a dumping ground for machines Nevada no longer wants. If anyone has a machine from years ago that they loved, tell me and I'll see if I can find it. Maybe you can buy it from them. It would be interesting to know if these machines still have the same "randomizing" chip they had in Nevada, or if the payoff percentages were revised. I think the VP is random (based on my experience playing), but who knows about the slots. Judging from the situation, my guess is the slots are unchanged. We did very well playing Keno machines, so I think they were random. We played 4 Keno sessions and broke even on 1, doubled our stake on the 2nd, tripled our stake on the 3rd, and ended with 8.3 times our stake on the 4th. We played slots briefly, and they seemed poor, but many people were playing. The Chewelah Casino was recently remodeled and very nice, with a good restaurant. The other two ... well, they seemed pretty "rough" if you know what I mean.