Maryland Live Casino set to debut blackjack, craps, other table games in April The suburban slots hall - one of the largest commercial casinos in the country and by far the biggest in the Free State - will add 122 live-action tables, with dealers, dice, cards, chips, security cameras - the works. The date was announced Tuesday, although Maryland Live officials said it is "pending final regulatory approval." "The addition of live-action table games completes the world-class gaming and entertainment experience we have created at Maryland Live Casino," Rob Norton, the property's president and general manager, said in a statement. Table games were approved by Maryland voters in November, along with a sixth casino in Prince George's County. As part of the gaming-expansion referendum, the state's casinos are allowed to operate round-the-clock; Maryland Live hasn't closed its doors since Dec. 27. Even without live-action table games, Maryland Live has been doing booming business since it opened June 6, pulling in an average of $1.1 million a day in revenue, according to the state Lottery and Gaming Control Agency. Employees at the 160,000-square-foot casino at Arundel Mills mall in Hanover have been removing some of its 4,750 slot machines (the number will shrink to 4,332), tearing up carpets and reworking its wiring ahead of the table-games operation. "Pardon our dust, we're making room for winners!" says a sign near an indoor construction zone. "Get ready for a full house!" another announces, although traditional poker tables won't be included initially. The casino will offer Pai Gow, Three Card Poker, Mississippi Stud and other "carnival-style" variations of the game come April; casino officials plan to build a 50-table, split-level poker room in the summer. But the opening bet is on craps, blackjack and the carnival games, which will be offered at varying stakes. The casino has some chips worth $10,000 each on order. Preparations have been underway for months. Since Jan. 7, for example, Maryland Live and Anne Arundel Community College have been operating a dealer school at Marley Station Mall in Glen Burnie, where about 800 gaming greenhorns are being trained as dealers. The casino plans to hire more than 500 first-timers, along with more than 200 experienced dealers from other states.