TAMA -- At 10:05 a.m. Wednesday, Becky Wilson hit the jackpot.

Her machine lit up five minutes into reopening day at the Meskwaki Casino, where she stopped for her birthday. Her five of a kind -- four aces and a deuce -- on a poker machine was good for a bundle of cash.

Fellow gamblers congratulated the Evansdale woman on her good fortune. But Wilson, a rookie gambler, admits it was blind luck.

"I have no idea what I did right. All I know is I'm $200 ahead," she says.

Hoards of people, eyes lit up like sparkling slot machines, spilled onto the floor after the ribbon cutting. A few open seats remained as tumbling dice and shuffling cards resumed.

The flashing lights and bubbly music are a boon for casino employees, who enjoyed a full house of gamers on New Year's Eve. Most workers stepped back into their roles quickly after the seven-month shutdown caused by a tribal leadership dispute.

Vicki Morris of Gladbrook, a hotel cook, served cookies and coffee early Wednesday to anxious patrons waiting to test their luck. Visitors crowded the hotel lobby and dining areas, chomping at the bit for a seat at a slot machine or roulette table.

Morris enjoys seeing her coworkers and the regular customers back to her workplace of four years.

"You just get really attached when you're in a kitchen for a bunch of years," she says.

Only a few dining workers remained employed during the casino's hiatus. In Morris's nine days back, she's helped with cleaning and preparation for special banquets on reopening day. Some employees, she says, likely worked 20 hours Wednesday.

"We'll work till it's done," she says.

Gaming officials tended to machines while security officers monitored operations. Some departments had to work out a few minor bugs, but most operations ran smoothly.

"It was like we didn't leave," says cashier Jean Jurgens, counting out lucky patrons' winnings in crisp bills.

All but 100 of the 1,300 employees, from tour bus organizers to cigarette peddlers, were back. Dealers were ready, too.

"The best part for me was being able to call the other employees and tell them that we were reopening," says Pamela Balderas, table games manager. She said it took about a week and a half to schedule dealers and go through refresher courses of the poker, craps and other betting games. Each dealer has the opportunity to learn all the games.

"I was quite pleased with the number of dealers that returned," Balderas says. "It made it a lot easier for us."

The reopening was also a proud moment for her as a member of the Meskwaki tribe.

"I hope we can just continue forward now," she says.