Road To Casino Paved With Bingo Cards

Margaret says when you live alone you have to get out. "Otherwise it's so boring you go nuts." Margaret Houser from Park River, N.D., was my seatmate when I took the blue-and-white Super Highways Tour Bus to the Shooting Star Casino in Mahnomen, Minn., on a day late in March. The bus with 55 seats was almost half full when it came out of Grafton, N.D., on a Thursday morning, and it had only a few seats when it pulled out of the parking lot in front of Kmart in Grand Fork at 9 a.m. The last pick-ups were in East Grand Forks and Crookston.

We all paid $20 bus fare to a guy who said, "Hi! I'm Bob. She's Lois." I learned later they are man and wife, and their last name is Axtman. They are nice hosts. They make sure that newcomers like me fill out a form so we can get a Star Rewards card at the casino. That makes a person eligible for extra points and birthday benefits. And incidentally, I figure, it gives the casino your name and address.

By the time we reached Crookston, the bingo cards were out. I bought one card for $1. Margaret bought two. "Maybe once," she said, "a person could win." But neither of us won, and we played about eight games before we got to Shooting Star Casino. It was 10:30 a.m. by then, and Bob said the bus would be at the front door to pick us up at 2:45 p.m. He added, "The wheels will be turning by 3 o'clock." Once inside the casino, we lined up at the payer's counter. I guess I paid in $20 and got $35 back in cash and incentives. It was hard to understand, but then I am easily confused. I followed a friend to a machine named Gamblin' Jack and learned how to insert my Star Rewards card in the corner of the machine so that it would allow me to play and rack up extra points. You don't even have to pull the handle on most of the machines here - you just press the buttons. This was a penny machine. Yep. And it took me about 10 minutes to lose 70 cents. The lights were flashing in many colors, there were blurb-blurb-blurb sounds coming from the machines and a strong smell of smoke in the air.

"One more," said a friend on the Eagle Rock machine beside me. She gave it another go. She won $11. But then, she said, she put in more than that. Next thing I knew I got a cash-out of $2.15 on a penny machine. The guy on the next machine moved his beer so I wouldn't spill it. I was beginning to feel secure in the casino, and I asked a woman if you could lose money on the penny or nickel machines. "Not any more than you put in," she assured me as she took out $30.14 and told me she had put in $70. Another woman moseyed over to the corner where you play poker on machines. She likes something that involves a little thinking.

I took time off for lunch with a couple of friends and used the $2.50 coupon I had been given to help pay the check in the Whispering Winds cafe. Then, I set out again in this vast sea of machines gobbling up coins in all amounts and poker machines with more strategy involved and a lounge beyond that. I was lugging my purse, my writing notebook, a jacket I should have left on the bus, a jar for my money and Star Rewards card. It was kind of dark in the casino in spite of the lights. The carpet is nice and thick. I had to keep remembering to pull that card with its long cord out of the machines as I moved around. When the day was over, I figured I was $3 or $4 ahead. I am a cautious soul.

The parking lot was full of cars as our bus pulled away at 3 p.m. The passengers, mostly women who never would be carded in a bar, filed back on the bus. If any of them won much, they weren't talking about it. Most said they were losers. Bob said, "So, you are going home lighter, but you had fun, didn't you? That's the idea." I asked Margaret if she ever wins.

She said, "Win? What's that?" "Are you going next week?" I asked.

"Probably," she said.

The Super Highway Bus leaves Grand Forks each Tuesday morning for Shooting Star Casino, and the ticket is $15. On Thursdays, when the bus starts its pick-ups in Grafton, the ticket is $20. And every other Thursday, the bus changes its destination to places such as Dakota Magic near Hankinson, N.D., or Seven Clans at Thief River Falls. On May 2-3, the casino bus is going on an overnight run to Jackpot Junction near Redwood Falls, Minn. All of this is hard to keep straight. Margaret told me she likes Shooting Star best because they have more coupons.

There are a couple of different drivers, but our bus driver was Greg Klinkhammer who runs Super Highway Tours Co. with his wife, Diane. She answers the phone, (800) 569-4166, during business hours from their office in Thief River Falls. The passengers get the itineraries from Bob on the bus. And at the end of our trip, Greg Klinkhammer thanked us all for riding the bus and reminded us there was a cup in front if we could spare a couple of dollars to help pay for gas since the fares haven't gone up.

Before I left Margaret, we were joking about our lousy bingo cards. Margaret laughed and said, "This is the last time I play bingo. I'm giving it up for Lent."

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