Yorkton Casino Online, Tile by Tile

Painted Hand Casino covers 43,000 square feet and opened its doors on December 14, 1996. It was the fourth SIGA casino to open that year, and the last of the four. A staff of 139 works there, and 73% are First Nations employees.

SIGA counts 241 slot machines and 9 table games on the floor. Together those two counts make 250 places to play. The casino reports more than 300,000 guests a year.

Painted Hand Casino, measured

Of the 250 places to play, 241 are slot machines by SIGA's count. The casino itself puts the figure at more than 241. Those machines run in five denominations: 1 cent, 2 cents, 5 cents, 25 cents and $1.

The remaining 9 are electronic table games, and the casino does not publish which games they run. Nothing else appears on the floor list: no live dealer tables, no poker room, no bingo, no keno and no sportsbook. That leaves 0 live tables among the 250. Each slot and each electronic table lights its own tile in the mosaic above.

Painted Hand Casino floor, tile by tile

The floor opens at 10 am daily. Sunday through Wednesday it closes at 3 am, Thursday through Saturday at 4 am, on the next calendar day. That makes 17 hours a day early in the week, 18 later, and 122 hours a week. Saskatchewan stays on Central Standard Time all year, so the clock never shifts.

At the Deli & Bar, one schedule runs 11 am to 2 am daily, 105 hours a week. The box office at Guest Services is staffed 10 am to midnight, 98 hours a week. Legends Restaurant comes to 72 hours a week. Holiday hours are not published, so a holiday visit starts with a call to 306-786-6777. The triangle tool below sets the four schedules side by side.

SIGA Rewards is one players club with four tiers, shared by the seven SIGA casinos. Membership is free, and the casino keeps a SIGA Rewards desk. A member who shows the card gets 10% off a restaurant or deli order at SIGA locations.

An RV stay on the lot also needs the card, along with approval from security or the Casino Shift Manager. Members earn points and credits, yet the earning rates and the requirements of each tier are not published. The chevron tool below sets out the card's known figures.

Two major highways cross Yorkton close to the casino, and the parking on site costs nothing. RVs are welcome for up to 5 days in a row, first come, first served. Plugs come in 30 amp and 15 amp, and everyone in the RV must be 19 or older. There is no hotel at the casino.

Three units on site supply electric vehicle charging. The Level 2 ChargePoint station handles 2 vehicles at a maximum of 7.2 kW, while the Level 2 Porsche charger reaches 11.5 kW. For 1 vehicle at a time, the Level 3 DC fast charger delivers 65.5 to 125 kW. Fees are charged by the hour.

The Painted Hand lot in figures

The Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority, or SIGA, is a First Nations non-profit created on June 10, 1995. It runs seven casinos in the province, this one included, and puts all net proceeds back into Saskatchewan. Net profit from the seven is divided among three recipients. The First Nations Trust takes 50% of it. Community Development Corporations take 25%, and the provincial General Revenue Fund takes the remaining 25%.

In the casino's own words, the red painted hand of its name stands for courage and honour.

Operated by SIGA, PlayNow.com is the sole legal site for online gambling in Saskatchewan, and players must be 19 or older. No private online casino can obtain a licence in the province, and the provincial government describes sites competing with PlayNow as illegal platforms.

Tessera's Ad links lead to one such private business, which pays the guide a commission. Those links sit on the home page only: the menu button, a strip under the opening tool and a box near the end. Neither SIGA self-exclusion nor Game Break reaches that site, though Game Break does cover PlayNow.com and every casino in Saskatchewan.

Online gambling for Painted Hand readers

• Saskatchewan Problem Gambling Helpline calls to 1-800-306-6789 are free and confidential, and the line answers 24 hours a day for people who gamble and for their families.
• Residents can get free problem-gambling counselling from the Saskatchewan Health Authority, with no doctor's referral required.
• SIGA Voluntary Self-Exclusion, arranged at any SIGA casino, or Game Break bars a person from every casino in Saskatchewan for a term of 6 months to 5 years.

Painted Hand help, line by line