The Rivers Casino filed a petition today seeking authorization from the state gaming control board to operate 86 table games at the North Shore venue.

In a release, the casino said the 86 games will include poker, blackjack, craps, roulette, three-card poker, mini-baccarat, Pai Gow Poker, Texas Hold'em Bonus and Big Six. Of the 86 games, 24 will be poker and 42 blackjack. The casino will build a separate room for poker. The current gambling floor will be redesigned to accommodate the other games.

To staff the new operation, Rivers officials said they intend to hire 309 full-time employees and 149 part-timers. About 350 of the new jobs are for dealers, with the rest reserved for managers, supervisors, and other support staff. The new jobs will supplement the casino's current 1,061 full- and part-time workers.

The casino held two job fairs last week to recruit candidates for its table games school, scheduled to start next month, and is planning additional recruitment efforts. More than 1,800 people attended last week's job fairs.

After reviewing the petition, the gaming board will schedule a hearing to take testimony from the public about the casino's plans.

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