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2002 Antigua  Kings Casino In the capital city of St. John, located right off the cruise ship docks is the Kings Casino. Small in size, this casino was very crowded even early in the daytime with passengers from the ships. After speaking with a few people, I learned that the standard fare is that men were all in the casino while the women shopping in the town.While playing a little black jack there, I had a run of very good luck, and in turned made some winning bets for the dealer as well as a few tips. Apparently, tipping isn't very common, and both the dealer and pit boss seemed very appreciative.
 Being a true chipper, I was looking though my stack of chips and pulling out the best of what was there. The pit boss noticed my strange behavior and asked me if I was lookking for souvenier chips. I quickly answered "yes!" and told him I was a collector. The tips and bets I made paid off. He graciously told me he was happy to call back to the cashier manager and have them pull some new chips from the vault for me. As it turns out, they had just recieved a shipment of certain chips just two days before. My chipper heart jumpped for joy!. Mr Pit Boss made the call and came back to tell me just ask for "Shirley" at the cage, and she'd take care of me. Knowing it would be rude to drop everything and run full speed to the cage, I played a few more minutes and then said I was going for the chips. Shirley informed me that they had brand new, never touched a table $2.50 and $0.50 chips, as well as a few tokens. She also looked through for the best of what she could find of the $1.00 chips and a few $5.00 chips. Yet another successful chipping mission Downtown St. John had a number of other various casinos, but all seemed to be strictly slots. Reef Casino My resort was at Jolly Harbour, which is adjacent to Jolly Harbour Marina. There, in what looked like just another storefront was the Coral Reef Casino.The Reef Casino is the size of a closet with 3 tables (roulette, black jack an poker) and a few slots. The original casino burnt to the ground, and they opened this closet, ummmm, I mean mini casino in a shopping center. It's located next to a bar, which is where the waitresses go to get you drinks. Luckily for the waitresses, they had a small door connecting the two. They are in the process of building a huge casino which will be like a real vegas type of casino (seeing is believing) The cinderblock shell appears to be almost complete..and it is very big. They will be getting new chips for the new casino. They were guarding these chips like they were gold...trying to make them last for the next six months.
 The old H.C.Edwards chips As a matter of fact, the pitboss/manager told me that they have already ordered all the new chips for the new casino. The new fancy casino is supposed to be open in 6 months. He told me he wasnt sure about the type except they were "fancy". The H mold chips are going to be gone and a thing of the past there. In fact even right now he told me they don't even have enough $1.00 chips to function properly. Thats why he would only allow me to take one of the $1.00 chips with me. Of course i played black jack there almost every night and pocketed a few each time. According to Bob (pit-boss/manager) they only have a total of 140 of the $1.00 chips left, and they are trying like hell to make them hold out until the new chips come in. Riviera Casino The Riviera is a new casino that has a few tables and a small restaraunt. They use slot tokens instead of $1.00 chips. They had only $5.00 and 25.00 chips.St. James Casino The St. James Club is very upper end...but still very tiny. A craps table, a rouletle table, four blackjack tables and about 30 slots which were around the outer three walls. They cater to the rich and famous who may stay at the posh condos there. It's on the south side of the island with a fancy private harbour for all of their decadent yaghts. This is the opposite side of the island from the tourist areas, cruise ship docks and the main town of St Johns.
 The casino opens after 8:30pm (caribbean time). It's on the opposite side of the island from the St. John and the tourist area. So unlike the Kings Casino, which is close to everything and open during the daytime, the you would have to rent a car, or hire a cab to get there at night. Cabfare to St. James is $40.00 each way, and of course you will have to wait quite a while to the the return cab because they have to come all the way from St. Johns. As if being on the far side of the island wasn't bad enough, I should mention that yu have to cross the rainforest to get there. I should also mention that the windy roads to get there have been washed out so many times, and can not really be considered as being paved any more. As for the rental car and driving on the island, all I can say is it was an adventure driving in the daytime..and downright insane at night. Imagine this if you will:
-You drive on the left side of the road
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