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He's on a real high roll now on reality TV

First, the local boy made good selling his dot-com business. Now the Las Vegas casino he bought is the locale for a new Fox TV show.

CLEARWATER - Tom would have been proud. Almost everybody milling around the house was wearing one of the Golden Nugget T-shirts he had sent from Las Vegas.

But because it wasn't quite yet time, the group nervously chatted with each other and played with Missy, the poodle pup.

Finally, at 8:50 p.m., drinks in hand, they gathered around the 57-inch Hitachi high definition TV, giddy with anticipation.

"It's almost show time!" announced the owner of the house, Nonie Young.

"Turn up the volume!" someone shouted.

And there he was, almost as big as life, one of two handsome men in impeccable suits walking toward the camera.

Nonie couldn't keep it in.

"There's your baby boy, Carol!" she shouted.

Carol Breitling beamed.

Indeed, there was Tom, her 34-year-old dot-com millionaire son, making his debut Monday on the new Fox TV reality show The Casino.

The 13-episode series by Mark Burnett, creator of The Bachelor and Survivor, follows Tom Breitling and his friend, Tim Poster, who made a $101-million fortune off the sale of their business, Travelscape.com, as they buy and run the landmark Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

It was the first time Carol and Fred Breitling of Trinity in New Port Richey and their pack of longtime friends had seen the show.

There were a few surprises, even before the first episode started.

A hush fell when the screen went black and a message was flashed: "Due to some sexually explicit content, parental discretion is advised."

"Oh, I don't like that opening," said Fred Breitling, laughing.

The guys' adventures started with long meetings with the Nevada gaming board in a trial-like setting as they attempted to get their license.

That accomplished, it got a tad steamier, segueing to "Big Chuck," the sleazy professional card-counting gambler who hits on women. The crowd gasped "oh, my God," when Big Chuck finally found someone willing to "go upstairs" with him, and it turned out the woman was another man - in drag.

And they laughed as "Rob the Virgin" gave a woman a vigorous lap dance.

During the commercials the group talked about how amazed they were that this was Tom, the same kid who used to mow the grass at Countryside Country Club.

"I keep telling the guys at the cart barn he's going to be something," Gary Young said with a laugh.

Thomas Breitling grew up in Burnsville, Minn., and graduated from Academy of Holy Angels Catholic high school. After the family moved to Clearwater in 1988, Tom headed west to the University of San Diego where he met Poster through a mutual friend.

"He was always happy, always had a great personality," said Carol Breitling. "He always seemed to be the one who could finagle anything out of his dad."

And loved the finer things in life.

"I was an airline pilot for Northwest Airlines," said Fred Breitling. "So we (flew) on passes. It was $5 to ride tourist and $10 to go first class. Tom would say, "I'll pay the extra $5, dad!"

Wanting to get into TV, he started his career at tiny Victorville, Calif., as a sportscaster. The station was so small, Tom was also the producer and cameraman, "running all over town" to get stories, his mother said.

Meanwhile, Poster had settled in Las Vegas and started a hotel reservations booking company. The business grew so quickly, he asked Tom to leave TV and be a partner. He did, and "this little tiny business just mushroomed," said Carol. Later, they developed Travelscape.com and sold it to Microsoft, which renamed it Expedia.com.

"They were driving down the Strip and Tim pointed to one of the hotels and said I think we'll own one of those one day," said Carol. "Tom just laughed."

By January, the dream had come true. In April, the Breitlings brought all their closest friends to the casino for a lavish 40th anniversary party Tom threw for his parents.

Although filming was going on (the couple wore tiny microphones hidden in their shirts), they didn't see themselves on TV.

"I think they were looking for something spicier than us," said Carol Breitling.