For the first time ever, the state of Maine now offers live blackjack, roulette and poker at its one land-based casino, after a recent voter resolution in the state allowing table games.

Yesterday we told you about the spread of online gambling over in Europe. Today we take a look at offline gambling in the United States. Maine, specifically, where voters recently passed legislation allowing the state’s one brick-and-mortar casino, formerly known as Hollywood Slots in Bangor, to start offering table games like blackjack and roulette.

The new and expanded Hollywood Casino opened last week with 7 poker tables, 6 blackjack tables and 1 roulette table. They plan to add to this initial 14 games soon, including adding craps to the mix this summer. They’re also sitting on an extra 12,000 square feet of space should they need it.

Hollywood Casino says the move will add 91 more jobs to the state, with $4 million in salaries and benefits. They expect the addition of table games to increase revenue by 10-15% per year, the cash equivalent of about $65-$100 million.

It is believed that many gamblers and would-be players from Maine, Canada and New Hampshire bypassed Hollywood Slots to travel to Foxwoods in Connecticut because Hollywood Slots didn’t offer table games. Now the new Hollywood Casino plans to attract those players with a shorter travel time to get the games they want.

The Eastern Maine Community College will even be teaching a course designed to train students to deal these table games with the possibility of future employment at the city’s new full-fledged casino.