"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."

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MARILYN HAGERTY COLUMN : Road to casino paved with bingo cards (The Grand Forks Herald 4/2)