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Fifth in a series of articles on The Isle Casino and Hotel opening in Waterloo Saturday.

WATERLOO - With 76 hours before The Isle Casino and Hotel in Waterloo has its grand opening, hundreds of construction workers and casino employees scrambled Wednesday to put on the finishing touches.

Construction workers laid tile on the floor. Employees trained at the hotel's registration desk. Crews worked on restaurants inside the casino.

Work continues around the clock to get everything ready in time, said Kim Hardy, vice president and general manager of The Isle.

"Plus, we're pushing a couple more hours into that clock," Hardy said.

"We're looking to work right up until 3 o'clock (Saturday afternoon)," Hardy said. "It could be 4 o'clock."

The hotel opens for an invitation-only preview at 5 p.m. Saturday. The doors open to the general public at 7 p.m.

The Isle will feature four restaurants, 5,000 square feet of convention space, 195 hotel rooms and 1,110 slot machines and 31 table games. Table games will include roulette, craps, blackjack, poker and pai gow.

One of the restaurants, Farraddays Signature Steakhouse, won't open until early August, Hardy said. A resort pool and spa is expected to open in November or December.

When people enter the casino, one of the first things they will see is the hotel's glass water feature - a 25-foot-high glass sheet blade with water cascading down its faces. Lights and video projectors mounted to a floating ceiling ring will illuminate the water and cast abstract moving images onto the surrounding curved walls.

The casino's 1,110 slot machines were lit up and dinging as staff trained on the actual machines for the first time. The 31 table games were still covered with plastic.

Ashtrays are built into the console ringing the roulette table. The casino floor is a smoking area except for, of all places, the poker room, said Chad Moine, the table games manager. Individual game tables can be declared smoke-free at players' request, he said.

The focal point of the gaming floor is the bar, Fling, with its 28 plasma screen TVs and the 20-foot-high steel and glass decoration designed to emulate sheets of ice standing independently of each other. Semi-secluded private booths flank the bar. A fact sheet distributed by the casino describes Fling as a "comfortable retreat from the gaming floor."

Video poker machines are embedded into the surface of the bar.

At least 85 percent of the hotel's 195 rooms will be finished in time for opening night, Hardy said. They're all booked.

"I think we've even booked the ones we don't have ready," he said. The goal is to have them all ready.

"It's just all finishing touches right now," Hardy said.

In fact, the hotel rooms are pretty well booked through July, Hardy said. Most guests are coming from within 100-150 miles away.

Hardy expects a crush of people eager to see the casino when its doors finally open on what could be one of the busiest days casino and hotel staff will ever see. The parking lot has 1,200 spaces, and Don Hoth, chairman of the Black Hawk County Gaming Association once suggested people show up early to get a parking spot.

"We just hope we can manage," Hardy said.

Contact Jeff Wilford at (319) 291-1423 or jeff.wilford@wcfcourier.com.