Sonya Ratliff and about a dozen friends put on sparkly clothes and left early on a Tuesday morning to celebrate another mom’s birthday. In years past, that might have meant brunch.

Now, in this Bible Belt town on the edge of the Appalachian Mountains, it means slot machines, blackjack and other games of chance at the newly opened Bristol Casino.

How long would the women gamble? “Until we have to pick up our kids from school,” Ratliff, 42, said to roars of laughter from her friends gathered around a roulette table.

Since July 8, Virginia’s first casino has been doing big business in a former abandoned shopping mall near the Tennessee line.