Bingo

Currently, 272 organizations have county licenses to operate bingo games, said Bob Miercznikowski, of the Allegheny County Treasurer's Office. An organization must be nonprofit or charitable in nature to receive a license.

Mary Petkervich, of Greenfield, said she usually spends $12 twice a week at the Senior Citizen Center in Greenfield.

As far as hobbies go, $12 a week isn't that much money, Petkervich said.

"I like to play even if I don't win," Petkervich said. "It passes the time."

Sports betting

The Internet makes it nigh impossible to track how much sports gambling is taking place in Pittsburgh -- or anywhere. It exists in semi-legal limbo because cyber gambling houses boot up from Caribbean destinations.

And it takes less than five minutes to set up gambling accounts on a plethora of Web sites.

Gamblers can even bet on tennis and golf. Tiger Woods' odds to win golf's grand slam in 2006, according to sportsbetting.com? Thirty-five to 1.

Sports Rock Cafe bartender Andrew Ward said simply, "There is a lot of gambling going on." Because the Strip District establishment televises almost every college football game on Saturdays, Ward said the place is filled with the kind of customers who clutch crib sheets, detailing bets. Ward said his patrons talk about winning, or losing, upward of $500 during a single afternoon.

Kenny, 39, of Squirrel Hill, who declined to give his last name, said he bets on football. Kenny said he knows plenty of guys in Pittsburgh who can make $500 to $600 a week, but are gambling up to $15,000 weekly.

"Fantasy football," which allows fans to assemble superstar teams of NFL players, isn't normally associated with serious gambling. Nonetheless, Kenny said he has won $1,000 in a single "fantasy football" season, following a $100 to $200 investment.

Video poker

Bars, doughnut shops and pizza parlors often host video poker machines for their entertainment value, but when an owner pays the player for a winning hand, it crosses into illegal territory.

This year, 252 illegal video gambling machines have been seized by the Pittsburgh district office of the state Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, which covers six counties in western Pennsylvania.

These numbers don't represent the magnitude of the problem of video gambling, said Bob George, the acting office commander of the Pittsburgh district.

"It's very pervasive," George said. "There's video gambling in most every club and many bars."

Many of these machines display the words: "For amusement only." But even casual gamblers say it's no secret some bars hand out cash for winning hands on the screen.

"None of the machines in Pennsylvania have the ability to give out coins like they would in Atlantic City or Las Vegas," George said. Instead, gamblers accrue points on the machine and then notify the bartender or manager to get cash back.

Staff writers Kim Lyons, Andrew Johnson, Rochelle Hentges, Josie Roberts and Andrew Conte contributed to this report.