Lisa Barcomb is “the bingo queen.”
Sitting at a table with her lucky charms lined up nearby, she’s playing three cards simultaneously.
Wielding her dauber like a pro, she doesn’t even break stride as she explains that B1, against all odds, always seems to be the hardest number to get.
“Everybody hates that number,” she says, her eyes on the board showing which numbers already were called. “No one likes to wait for it at all.”
During a break, she shows off a total on her receipt from the bingo hall at Turning Stone Resort Casino – 27 games so far this month.
It’s Feb. 9.
Barcomb is not alone in her love for bingo. While smaller games have long been a fundraising staple for churches and fire departments everywhere, its local appeal is bolstered by Turning Stone’s high-stakes operation, which is one of the largest in the country.
And many of the 450,000 visitors who make their way through the bingo hall’s doors each year come armed with a bevy of tips, tricks, superstitions and souvenirs that they swear will help them win.
Some don’t like to be wished “good luck.”
Others try to find a favorite seat, or a favorite staff member, before the game starts.
For 66-year-old Cathy Mattia, of Utica, it all comes down to a green Buddha statue and a jade elephant that was a present from her children.
“This elephant is supposed to be lucky,” she said, pulling the figurine from her purse. “The first time I brought him to bingo, I won $500.”
Mattia said she’s played bingo at least once a week since Turning Stone opened in the 1990s.
The appeal?
“The possibility of winning something big, going out with your friends and it’s just fun,” she said.
Cheryl Kucharek, 63, and her sister, 78-year-old Joyce Lowry, both of Rome, said they regularly arrive at Turning Stone at 4:30 p.m. to get seats for the 7 p.m. game.
“We get a seat and we start getting our cards and things ready,” Kucharek said. Their “things” included a camouflage-wearing Marine bear and no less than half a dozen daubers in different colors.
While the sisters said they come primarily for the social aspects of the game – often with a group of seven, including Kucharek’s husband, Dennis – they’ve also won once or twice over the years. Lowry even took home $1,500 on New Year’s Eve.
“We really have a lot of fun,” Kucharek said.
Not everyone is there to socialize, however.
Robin Green of Rochester said she makes the 2½-hour drive to Turning Stone three or four times a month because it offers the possibility of winning up to $1,000 per regular game, and more than $100,000 on some jackpots.
Altogether, Director of Bingo Operations Bob Larson said, the casino pays out $18 million per year – almost $50,000 per day – in bingo winnings. And unlike many other games, there always is a winner.
“A bingo game takes on a different effect when you’re one number away from winning $1,000,” he said. “That beats the heck out of a church game where you’re playing for $3.”
As for what Turning Stone makes off the game, officials would only say that it accounts for 5 percent of the resort’s total gaming revenue.
The bingo hall also is considered a tourist draw equivalent to the resort’s event center or its many restaurants.
“Bingo is the reason there are casinos,” Larson said.
With that in mind, the Oneidas have invested additional money in the game in the last year, partially in hopes of attracting younger players.
“Cosmic Bingo,” which began in April, is a Saturday night mixture of club music, black lights and impromptu contests that Larson enthusiastically describes as “high-energy entertainment in a bingo setting.”
The casino had to buy new lighting and improve its sound system to make the event possible, but the $10 session regularly attracts players in their late teens and early 20s – compared to the more traditional 45-and-up demographic that dominates other sessions.
“Our attendance is growing rather rapidly,” Larson said of the Cosmic games, which can accommodate about 700 players. “For four out of the last five weeks, we’ve sold out.”
The basic version of the game also is catching on with younger players, it seems. Twenty-two year old Amanda Ladd of Liverpool tried it for the first time Wednesday after hearing rave reviews from her friends.
She hadn’t developed any superstitions yet, but the “fast-paced” game already had her hooked only halfway through.
“I’ll probably come back – a lot,” she said.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Bingo players use their quirks, superstitions trying to win jackpot - Utica Observer Dispatch
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