Once I'd read that Trump Plaza had gone to automated no-dealer poker, my first thought was, "What becomes of the 'rake'?" Not to worry: The machines have taken care of it. Or, as Casino Manager Anthony Spagno was kind enough to explain, "As the case with a dealer, the rake is deducted from the pot at certain intervals during each hand with a maximum of $3.00. Time raked games are deducted from the players table stakes according to the rake schedule."

Automated poker is catching on at Trump Plaza in part, I suspect, because there was no poker there previously and because, according to the article, it provides a user-friendly 'bunny slope' upon which to get acclimated to the game.

These Poker Tek tables have yet to be approved in Nevada, where I'm sure they'll produce an interesting schism. Obviously, no self-respecting poker room on the Strip would install them, but they'd probably do well out on the floor amongst the casual players, even more so than Rapid Roulette, for instance.

And I can definitely see PokerPro muscling into the low-budget Vegas casinos and maybe even some mid-market ones. For instance, you could plunk them down in the poker "room" at Suncoast (really just a random corner of the casino floor) and I doubt anyone would notice the difference.

June's Bad Service Award goes to the bartender at the Sahara's NASCAR Cafe. I killed time there with a soda while some friends and family went roller-coaster-riding. The bartender was surly, took forever (on a very slow Saturday night) and my $2.95 Coke came in a thimble. No tip for that schmuck.

Why is it that casinos are usually willing to pay higher taxes when virtually every other business is only too eager to shirk its civic responsibility? The latest group of gambling halls to pony up are the East Baton Rouge riverboats. Most generous, at least in theory (because it haven't built its riverboat yet) is Pinnacle Entertainment, offering 4.5% of revenues outright, according to JP Morgan.

More complicated formulas apply to the two extant vessels. Columbia Sussex's Belle of Baton Rouge will pay 2% if revenues are less than $73.6 million, but -- if that benchmark is achieved -- it pays a split rate of 3.5% on the first $73.6 million and an extra percent on anything more. Penn National's Hollywood Casino Baton Rouge subscribes to an identical formula, save that the magic number for Penn is $100 million, not $73.6 million (which seems to be a nice way of saying that Penn is trouncing Columbia Sussex. What a surprise.)

The new tax rates supplant $2.50/head boarding fees formerly in place in East Baton Rouge Parish.