A man in a shark-skin suit stands in the corner with a drink in his hand. He holds a skee ball up to a woman in a red sequin dress. She blows on it for good luck just before he chucks the ball up the ramp landing into the “100” point hole. Flash bulbs spark over the winners lane. “You’re my good luck charm tonight baby doll.”

Gatti-Town!

Opened in 1973 GattiTown was originally under riverboat gambling laws since they were off shore of Red Lobster. The original owner Frank “Frankie” Gattiano had gained all the reputation of a Made-Man in his lifetime. He was rumored to have left many enemies in pizza-dough shoes. Sleeping with the anchovies.

GattiTown was his magnum opus to the lifestyle that created him as well as the women that fueled him. But once corporations like K-Mart and Babies R Us moved in everything became cleaner and Gattiano, by then known as “Mr. Gatti”, had to change his act. He wouldn’t live to see those changes through. No one was ever prosecuted for the bumper car-bomb that killed Gattiano.

Now that the corporations are folding and west coast syndicates like Malibu Jacks are moving in GattiTown is returning to it’s roots.

The Gatti-Town speakers, used to playing mostly kid’s pop music, now play wall to wall Rolling Stones. “Gimme Shelter” plays at least 5 times an hour.

You’ll see lines of old men wearing green visors eager to spend their savings on “Deal or No Deal” or for a pair of long legs waiting by the token machines. Keeneland handicappers keep sharp in the winter with the Horse racing simulator.

We see a man get tasered by the pit-boss for bringing in weighted skee-balls. As they are carrying him out the boss hands out some tickets to concerned customers. “Don’t worry folks. Too many cheesesticks.”

Like Gattiano used to say, “The Buffet Always Wins.”