Denise, a busty blonde in a bustier, patiently waits for approval in the gray-toned, 10th-floor Harrisburg office that houses the state’s gambling lab.

A virtual simulation of a Las Vegas model, Denise and seven other “card dealers” appear in the latest high-tech version of a slot machine that seeks to mimic table games such as blackjack and poker — for now, not permitted in Pennsylvania casinos.

“Manufacturers have the freedom to simulate the table game environment but not the table game itself,” said Nimish Purohit, manager of statistical review in the laboratory operated by the Gaming Control Board.

Even before most of the state’s 11 licensed casinos open, manufacturers are testing the limits of a law that allows slot machines but not card or dice games.