"Maryann Six and Treg Combs leaned back against a cushioned divan at the Blue Lake Casino Saturday night to try their luck at a new software package that turned the iPad on their laps into the gambling equivalent of a 300-pound slot machine.

This new system, dubbed iSino, was recently approved by state regulators, making it one of the first laptop gambling devices being used in the United States according to Nelson Rose, an Encino, Calif., attorney who tracks the gaming industry through his blog, “Gambling and the Law.”

“Most of the innovation in electronic gambling is being driven out of the United Kingdom, but in the U.S. context, the Indian casinos are among the early adopters,” Rose said.

The new lounge at the Blue Lake Casino, where Six and Combs toyed with their iSino Saturday night, may be a glimpse into the future of casino gambling: in contrast to the frenetic, bell-ringing ethos of Las Vegas, the low slung seats and coffee-table layout of this smoke-free environment is designed to convince couples and small groups that it can be a very 21st Century experience to explore the deep-rooted human fascination with games of chance.

“After a while you just kind of forget what’s going on outside,” said Combs, 49, as he and Six, who is 51, practiced the side-sweeping gesture that is, to the iSino, like pulling the lever on a one-armed bandit."

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The Little Casino That Could? (The North Coast Journal 2/10)