By LYNDA EDWARDS
The Associated Press
5/6/2004, 1:01 p.m. CT

BILOXI, Miss. (AP) -- Forget glitzy Las Vegas casino ads teeming with young guys and supermodels.

The typical Gulf Coast gambler is silver-haired and over 50, Southern Gaming Summit experts agree.

So what slot machines and casino games are seductive enough to turn Generation X-ers into devout gamblers? [...]

Another huge young crowd flocked to the $5,000 Chicken Challenge, an up.m.arket version of the old carnival game. The goal is still winning a tic-tac-toe game against a hen who marks her squares with her beak. But this hen sits inside a huge, air-conditioned golden coach.

Owner Robin Turner of Florida-based University of Feathers provides his casino clients with a coach, 12 chickens and a hen wrangler who feeds and cares for them.

"If the chicken needs to lay an egg or is just having a bad day and won't play, there is always a backup chicken," Turner said.

Currently, Challenge chickens are playing five casinos nationwide, including Trump 29 in Palm Springs.

Casinos reward loyal high rollers with a chance to beat the chicken for $5,000.