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Bingo Bus is Florida Casino's Little Secret

"A dozen or more passengers -- mostly women and mostly retired -- who boarded the bus at the stop at Conway and Curry Ford roads are buzzing about the big $108,000 jackpot and declaring how they just might be the lucky winner.

"…The bingo bus riders play gin rummy with seatmates, a dice game called `greed' and catch up on the latest about friends and family.

"`We just have a lot of fun,' says Wanda `Mack' Gibson, who has been driving the 30-passenger bus to Tampa ever since the bingo casino opened 20 years ago, and for several years before that to the Hollywood casino near Miami. Her daughter Karen Martin has driven a second daily bus for `overflow' since 1984.

"For the Seminole Tribe, the bingo buses that converge on the Tampa gambling center from five nearby counties are one of the secrets to their success through the years.

"The buses, subsidized by the Seminoles to ensure that passengers ride free, roll in seven days a week from hundreds of miles away carrying dedicated players, who typically drop $50 to $200 a night -- for fun and a shot at surprisingly big bucks…"

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