Today my wife and I were shopping for two particular chairs that need replaced soon in our "computer" room. These efforts took us to the Martinsburg, WV area. I decided while I was within about 15 miles of Charles Town, I would go to the casino and cash out a significant number of chips I had accumulated over the past few years. Subject chips had been in my dresser drawer for purposes of replenishing my poker bankroll if/when need be. No need to keep Charles Town chips if their poker room was closing for good.
While at the cage I mentioned the permanent closing of the poker room to the lady there, and she mentioned she was not aware of any specific plan to do so. Given that she was not in any type of supervisory role, I considered her statement in that light. It did give me a tiny little bit of hope though. And before I went to the cage, I went over and walked thru the poker room. In the middle I saw a bunch a slot machines awaiting movement somewhere. I was surprised though to see all the poker tables and chairs looking clean and exactly where they normally would have been. I had expected to see everything pushed out of the way and perhaps in one corner.
Then another lady in the cage (perhaps a supervisor) overheard our conversation and mentioned that one of the higher ups (who would definitely know about things involving the Poker Room) was on duty in the table games area. After waiting about 20 minutes I was finally able to locate him.
And.......per his understanding there is NO current plan to discontinue the Poker Room at Charles Town. They are still waiting on approval/authorization from the Governor to re-open. (I know that things can change at any time, but I believe that this upper management person would have told me so if he knew otherwise.). It would seem the significant issue preventing re-opening is allowing players to touch the cards, which is driven from the Governor's office. And as to the slots machines in the poker room, he told me they were just being stored there temporarily, and were eventually going to be installed upstairs.
So, it still may be a long time, but my level of hope is MUCH higher now then it was yesterday regarding the return of poker to CT.
