| |
U.S. Playing Card Outlet offers up rich history, deals
Published: 2006-02-14
 TABARI MCCOY | CIN WEEKLY
In case all the TV shows, tournaments, Web sites and gift displays in the mall haven't already tipped you off, believe us when we tell you: Poker is very, very popular right now.
But long before playing poker became the "it" thing to do, the U.S. Playing Card Company was supplying the world with decks, chips, shufflers and nearly any other accessory needed for a nice evening of cards with friends.
Enhance your collection with a stop at the company's gift shop and outlet store.
GAMBLER'S PARADISE
A virtual paradise for card enthusiasts and collectors alike, the USPC Gift Shop and Outlet center contains nearly enough merchandise to start your own home casino - if that were legal, that is. The outlet was originally only open to the company's employees, and the gift shop was only open for a few hours a week.
Now celebrating one year of being open to the public, the store is successful for a simple reason, says USPC inside sales manager Brenda Flick.
"(People) come here because we're the largest and oldest manufacturer of playing cards in America," Flick says. "We make the best quality there is, and that's why we've acquired all these other companies instead of being acquired."
FULL HOUSE
The center's gift shop features lots of fun items. Want a Barbie playing card set ($9)? It's there. Need some "Gypsy Witch" fortune telling cards ($4.50)? They're here, too - as are Po-Ke-No sets ($12), "Military Heroes" playing cards ($2.75) and USPC hats ($12).
There are plenty of high-end items in the gift shop as well. Kem plastic playing cards ($15 a deck) and World Poker Tour gift sets ($75-$225) are some of the most expensive (and desirable).
The outlet, however, is the true heart of the center. The giant room, re-stocked frequently, is filled with hundreds of "as-is" items for card players of all ages. Plastic Bicycle-brand chips will cost you only 50 cents per pack of 100, making them slightly cheaper than a pack of 25 professional-weight, World Poker Tour-branded ones ($2.50).
Portable World Poker Tour table tops are only $40 each, which will give you plenty of room to use your new deck of Care Bears ($1.25), Transformers (50 cents) or Hoyle plastic ($3.50) playing cards.
Then again, if you've got $45 to spare, you might just want to get your playing cards in a professional 300-chip World Poker Tour collector's set like the ones shown on TV.
If poker's not your thing, the outlet also has plenty of Aviator bridge-size playing cards ($1 a deck), cribbage blocks ($2.50, 25 cents for pegs), solitaire books ($1), pinochle sets ($3) and T-shirts ($5.50-$6.50) too.
IT'S IN THE CARDS
Once you're done with your shopping, you might want to look around at the five glass cases along one of the outlet's walls. The glass cases are home to the remaining display items and documents once part of a larger museum detailing the company's history and support of the U.S. military. There are also pictures detailing USPC's history as the original home of WSAI-AM (1360), which produced a signal so strong it was heard in New Zealand before the FCC began regulating radio.
| |
So far we hold ’em
Published: 2006-02-09
 By: Robson Fletcher
The province has told a Winnipeg bar owner to stop running poker tournaments but the games are still on at bars and restaurants in Brandon.
Coyotes Nite Club in Winnipeg stopped offering poker tournaments this week after the Manitoba Gaming Control Commission said the games were against the law.
It was the first time that a bar in Manitoba was told to stop offering poker tournaments, according to MGCC spokesperson Andrea Kowal.
But she said the MGCC is investigating up to 20 other poker operations in the province, in both urban and rural areas.
In Brandon, Houstons Country Roadhouse runs weekly poker tournaments on Wednesday nights and O’Kelley’s Pub and Restaurant runs tournaments on Tuesday nights.
The managers at both bars say their tournaments are just for fun, however, and don’t constitute gambling. The players don’t play with real money, there is no entry fee or cover charge, and the only prizes are low-value merchandise like T-shirts, gift certificates and poker chip sets.
Kowal said tournaments like those are “not likely illegal,” but recommended that business owners consult their own lawyers to make sure.
She added that the tournaments at the bar in Winnipeg were illegal because they offered a high-value grand prize — an entry into the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas worth more than $10,000.
The MGCC doesn’t precisely define what makes a poker game legal or illegal. Investigations into poker operations are actually carried out by Crown attorneys, Kowal said, who examine the games on a case-by-case basis and then advise the MGCC as to their legality.
But she added that if a business hosts a poker game with an entry fee, or if the players bet with real money, or if there are prizes of significant value, then the games are likely against the law.
Companies hosting illegal games risk losing their liquor and video lottery terminal licences, Kowal added.
As for small-stakes private games, they don’t usually register on the MGCC radar screen. Kowal said she’s not aware of any cases of the province “going into someone’s basement to break up a home game.”
The MGCC investigations have made some bar operators nervous, however, even if they believe they are running legal poker tournaments.
Houstons manager Jon Moore wouldn’t allow a Brandon Sun photographer to take pictures at last night’s poker tournament, saying the company wants to keep a lower profile after the closure of the tournaments in Winnipeg.
And Gary Desrosiers, a spokesman for the Manitoba Association of Rural Hotel Owners, said he and other rural bar owners are apprehensive about hosting poker tournaments, even if they are just for fun.
“I did run some for a while,” he said yesterday. “But then when things got a little more heated up, I thought it was best to back off.”
Some rural bars continue to quietly run poker tournaments, Desrosiers said, largely because they are “absolutely golden” as a marketing strategy.
“If you can organize a tournament, you can draw a huge crowd ... and the cost to the bar is minimal,” he said.
Desrosiers added that the MGCC investigations are the latest in a series of government regulations that are especially hard on rural bar owners.
He pointed to the province’s mandatory minimum drink prices and the smoking ban as well, saying they drive away a large proportion his small customer base.
“I have maybe 30 guys that keep me in business,” he said. “Where am I going to find another 20 customers to replace the guys who leave because of the smoking ban, or because they want to play in a poker tournament at someone’s house?”
| | |
English
Deutsch
Español
Français
Italiano
Nederlands
Pусский
Svenska