Casino Gaming LLC, headquartered in Broadview, Ill., is small when compared to the manufacturing giants of the casino gaming industry.

During the recent Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, however, the company stood tall with the "big boys" by having a trio of table game innovations on display that received more than just a passing glance.

Entrepreneurs such as Frank Mugnolo, president of Casino Gaming, know the emphasis these days is on the expansion of slot machines.

Products related to the table game sector face an uphill battle.

Mugnolo, however, has found the key to success. Rather than create and develop new games, he invents twists on traditional ones.

He already had come up with new wagers related to blackjack and craps play. This time around he turned his attention to roulette with a bet he calls Colors.

Colors brings a new dimension to roulette. It's a wager that either black or red will show on three consecutive spins of the wheel.

Gambling mathematician Stanley Ko analyzed the option and calculated a house advantage of 4.34 percent, which is significantly lower than the 5.26 percent house advantage on all of the other popular wagers available on an American ("0" and "00") roulette wheel.

Roulette players can wager on three consecutive blacks or reds without the Colors option by making a bet and parlaying it (letting the winnings ride) twice. But each time they are being hit with a house edge that's .92 percent higher than Colors.

Ko calculated the probability of getting three consecutive black numbers or three consecutive red numbers is 10.63 percent.

Mugnolo speculates the option would be easy to configure with Rapid Roulette, the electronic version of the game played on touch-screen video monitors using a live dealer and real roulette wheel.

The response the game received at the Expo indicates you may be seeing Colors pop up at casinos in the near future.

Mugnolo's first creation was Automatic Win. Since its debut several years ago, the option today can be found on over 500 blackjack tables at more than 20 casinos nationwide, including Hollywood Aurora, Harrah's Joliet, Majestic Star I & II in Gary and Ameristar in East Chicago.

Last year, Mugnolo and his partners unveiled a craps option called 7-Point-7 at the Expo.

What will Mugnolo come up with next? Tune in to next year's Global Gaming Expo to find out.

Casino news

* Harrah's Joliet is holding a "Gift Clearance Event" from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. today in the Events center in the pavilion. The selection includes Harrah's merchandise, tools, gaming themed items and more.

* The Big Blue Challenge, a Texas Hold'em no-limit poker tournament, will be held at 11 a.m. today in the poker room at Blue Chip Casino Hotel. Registration begins at 9 a.m. for a $100 fee.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at jbrokopp@comcast.net.