Paul Lucey is bleary-eyed as he explains that he hasn't slept properly in days but it's when he mentions his dealers that the alarm bells should be going off.

This would sound extremely suspect until it's discovered that Paul is the proud owner of a casino. When he talks about dealers, he is, of course, referring to the croupiers in his business.

They're amazing people,' he smiles, they see numbers as pictures, so they can calculate figures very quickly.'

Paul's Atlantis Casino in Carlow town is run by eastern European staff but there are a few local people now trained up in the finer points of roulette, backgammon and blackjack.

There are age-old gambling traditions in the ex-Soviet States,' he continues. Ireland is one of the last countries to get into the casino trade.'

The reason why the Tipperary entrepreneur looks so tired is the very unusual working hours he keeps.

Starting work in the evening, he'll be in the Atlantis Casino all night and won't get to bed until about 11 the next morning. Added to that, Paul has been flat-out as he opened his second business in his home-town of Clonmel at the weekend. One would have thought that it's an unlikely setting for such an usual business but Paul is having none of it.

There's room for a casino in most good-sized towns in Ireland,' he asserts.

In this country, such places of gambling are by law restricted as club status with Paul's own place having 3,000 members. The clientele comes from diverse backgrounds, including local business people, lawyers, Gardaí and tradesmen. There are some from political circles, too.

They get to use the gaming boards and the multitude of slot machines that line the black walls. Another aspect to the casino is the game of Texas Hold 'Em poker.

The game has proven to be phenomenally popular here over the past few years and the Atlantis Casino on Charlotte Street is testament to that.

Paul puts the popularity of the game down to two things. First of all, the amount of media attention and advertising the game has been given, and also because it's highly competitive.

Poker is the same as any other sport, really,' he says. It's the fastest-growing sport in the world and the players are so, so competitive. People who are highly competitive in sport can be attracted to it simply because of its competitiveness, too.'

Two players from Carlow will soon compete in the Paddy Power Irish Open Poker game, having won a chance to play in the tournament in Paul's casino. Tickets to compete in the Irish Open cost €4,500 a pop when the players vie for a pot of €3 million.

Gambling is adrenaline-fuelled stuff with its fair amount of casualties who become addicted to it. Paul says that his club never gets any flack or trouble and that there's a self exclusion programme' in place.

This means that if a member gets too wrapped up in one game or is worried that he's spending too much in the place, he can be asked to be kept away for whatever amount of time he wants. Staff are also trained to watch for signs of addiction and will indicate to the management their concerns.

If we saw that it wasn't fun anymore or if it was affecting someone's personality, we'll recognise the symptoms, and we'll bar them from the club. Gambling is like alcohol. Some people can enjoy it and know when to stop, but a small percentage can't,' he declares.

Amazingly, it was only last month that Paul visited that mecca of gambling, Los Vegas. On a mission to pick up new ideas, the trip blew his mind. A suite and limo were laid on by the Hilton Hotel for him and his father.

But, in many ways, Paul is used to the high glam and glitz which are associated with gambling, having picked up his trade after years of working on cruise ships around the world.

The Royal Caribbean and the QE2 are among the 16 luxury floating hotels that brought him to 177 countries globally.

His job was as supervisor of the casinos, so he got to mingle with the filthy rich as well as the ordinary Joe.

Yeah, we had the high rollers as well as the grannies playing the slot machines,' he recalls.

So why go from a life of globe-trotting adventure and high living to running his own business?

Three years ago, Don Morrissey of the Mount Wolseley Hotel in Tullow asked him to run the spa there. Once that was up and running, Paul took a gamble on opening his own club.

I decided to try it,' he concludes. I asked myself, would Carlow people take to it?

It seems that the gamble has paid off.