Table game minimums

Just returned from a Vegas trip after a 5 year absence.   A quantum change from Dec. 2019,  super expensive,  many more tactics to squeeze players etc.   Could swear the Green Valley Ranch controls the humidity down to the lowest level,  and not a cocktail waitress in sight for an hour.  But getting back on topic,  noticed very many dealers idle with the new higher table minimums.   Have the Ivy league MBA's now running the show, crunched the metrics enough to realize a little bit lower minimums would drive more traffic to those tables  ?

That decision has been made; that ship has sailed. The casino megacorporations have decided that the avergae Joe/low roller is not worth having in their neon palaces. They've been on a relentless price hike crusade, couple with a reduction in service; when they lost 20% of staff due to the pandemic shutdown, they decided to stick with that staffing level. Saved them money; made service crappier when the casinos came back to life.

They've been thinking long-term. They took the gamble that rather than telling Vegas to go farkle itself, addicted gamblers, craving their Vegas jones, would come roaring back and pay whatever was demanded of them, from insane room prices to high table limits. They were right.

So the bean counters (I hate to dignify them by mentioning their pseudo-degrees) have crunched the metrics, as you say, and determined that high, high prices and shitty service result in a better bottom line. In other words, fewer but fatter customers. They don't give a flying crap about you and me.

Which is why I visit once a year, on my way to somewhere else, instead of six to eight times a year, as I used to.

I am with you Craig.  They are paying these dealers anyway, why not let them work instead of just standing around.  It adds so much energy to the casino to have packed tables and maybe they bring along someone to drop money in the slots while they are rolling dice.  Lower the limits during the day and make something instead of nothing.  Give us a reason to go to a casino during the slow times.

IMO.....this isn't just a Vegas problem. Ever since corporations decided to start compensating executives with stock options instead of salaries, corporate leaders have had zero incentive to consider the long-term implications of their decisions. Their sole focus now is increasing share prices before they cut bait and move on to another company in 24-36 months. Fastest way to increase share prices? Cut payroll. 

So what you get in Vegas is an effort to force all but the high rollers to move to machine play. Machines don't call in sick, retire, complain about working conditions or unionize. Plus, the hold is a lot more predictable. Close the poker rooms, replace the sportsbook with kiosks and steer the craps players to bubble craps machines. If they can afford $100 per hand, well, OK, maybe we'll let them play a game with a dealer.  

So what happens in the long run? I don't know, but I'm pretty sure most casino executives (like their non-gamng brethren) really don't care. They don't figure to be around anyway. 

Won't be long before dealers are gone altogether.     My theory is they are only trying to accommodate high rollers at traditional tables and pushing everyone else to use the automated tables.     That's just step 1 in the transition.    The low rollers get to be the guinea pigs.

This is true, you're seeing large format games that formerly took multiple / many people to run reduced to 1-2 people, such as craps with only a stickman and the rest is digital or just straight up bubble craps with zero employees.  I'm guessing TITO is next for BJ if it hasn't happened already, you'll have a screen instead of the felt and no chips at all.  Reduces counts, employees dragging boxes of checks around, shuffling machines breaking down and theft.

But the loss to the player is immense, they lose the tactile feel of the game and the excitement and experience of wins and stacks pushed their way,

Might as well play online, why do I want to sit next to Frodo puffing his cigar or some Oregon bunghole with giant spanners in his ears puffing a vape pen every 30 seconds.

Thanks in part to afformentioned "bean counters" with their "pseudo-degrees", the S&P 500, the gold-standard market index of 500 US stocks, has posted a compound annual growth rate of 14.1% over the past four years.

14.1% growth.

Every year.

Turned the average $1.00 invested in those US stocks into $1.69.

My investments appreciate those "bean counters" with their "pseudo-degrees".

And if the casinos hadn't implemented their exclusionary policies, they would have done even better than they did. But the real consequences will come when the economy slows down, as it will when the clown show starts on Jan. 20, and all those low-rollers who they told to piss off don't come back 

Totally agree Kevin,  and I feel the younger crowd, 20's & 30's feel this is the norm.  Like you, I plan to visit once a year or less. This trip was anything but the "free form" experience I was used to in the 1990's and early 2000's.  At least this LVA allowed me to strategize a bit, but it was work.

Agree Brent, I tried playing some of the eight seat craps with the one stickperson.  It was kind of nice to sit down, and maneuver bets on the screen quickly, bet lower, but definitely a muted experience from the craps I'm used to.