Question of the Day - 31 August 2020

[Editor's Note: This answer is provided by Blair Rodman, co-author of our seminal poker book Kill Phil and author of our upcoming All About Sports Betting.] 

I’ll tell ya, poker rooms and players don’t get no respect.

Ever since poker came to Nevada, poker rooms have battled for casino floor space. Even Benny Binion’s wife, Teddy Jane, hated to move out her beloved slots to make room for the World Series of Poker.

Taken in a vacuum, poker rooms earn significantly less per square foot than other casino offerings. The house has no interest in who wins or loses, earning its revenue by taking a set percentage from each pot or charging the players in the bigger games by the half-hour to play. The most an active table could make for the house is $200-300 per hour. Tables and the spaces between them take up a lot of square footage and it’s rare that all tables are in action. Add in other expenses, such as labor, management, cocktail service, etc., and it’s easy to see why poker isn’t a major money maker for casinos.

So why offer poker at all? Because it brings people who like to play in the door, rather than losing their business to the poker competition, and while there, many patrons cross over to other areas of the resort, such as staying in the hotel, playing other games and machines, and patronizing restaurants, clubs (when they're open), and other amenities.

While casinos recognize the value poker players offer, many poker players feel they aren't fully appreciated by the casinos. Poker rooms are sometimes placed in undesirable locations within the casino and comps are meager compared to those doled out to players of other casino games. For example, since the house doesn’t have an interest, a poker player could lose $20,000 in a game to another player and instead of being lavished with food, beverage, and room comps, he might be lucky to get a free buffet.

Prior to the poker explosion of 2003 ignited by the trifecta of the hole-card cam, Internet poker, and Chris Moneymaker’s improbable and highly publicized run to the world title at the WSOP, poker was a dying game in Las Vegas, with sparsely populated poker rooms and casinos cutting back on tables or closing altogether.

The poker-mania years between 2003 and poker’s Black Friday of April 15, 2011 (when the government essentially shut down Internet poker to Americans), saw the majority of Las Vegas casinos open or reopen poker rooms as they recognized that the game was in demand and failing to have a poker room would lose potential casino and hotel customers. Poker had a good run in Las Vegas and elsewhere.

However, post Black Friday, the general public lost interest, the poker craze died out, and demand for poker in Las Vegas contracted. Poker rooms were once again shrunk or eliminated. Long-time poker regulars who were finally recognized during the boom were again relegated to their previous status.

Enter COVID-19. As casinos started to reopen after the painful shutdown, casino executives were desperate to get bodies in the door and on the floor. With the social-distancing limits placed on customer volume and the downturn after the initial strong response on first reopening, casinos were looking for ways to attract business and poker fit one of the bills, especially since California card rooms were closed and Golden State players were looking for a place to play. Most, but not all, casinos opened rooms, with protective measures in place, and players, both from California and loyal Vegas locals, showed up. And not all poker rooms are here to stay: After reopening, Harrah's closed its seven-table poker room for good, filling the space with slot machines. 

COVID-19 is a world-wide horror show, but looking for a silver lining, poker players are valued customers again, at least for now. I haven’t been in to play. I’m totally focused on my upcoming sports betting book, but I hope the players frequenting the poker rooms during the pandemic are, unlike Rodney, getting the respect they deserve and that the current scenario survives the virus.