What Are the Economics of Live Table Games?

In your QoD about the Golden Gate going to all electronic table games, you mentioned the "economics of the live-dealer tables." I know that the labor costs are self-evident, but what other economic factors do you think go into the decision to scale back or completely eliminate them, like at Golden Gate?

Good question.

The first and foremost factor, as you mention, is the cost of labor, though it's maybe not as self-evident as you might surmise. Labor alone can drive the decision to scale down or completely get rid of the table-game pit. Here are some numbers supplied by a cooperative table games director of our acquaintance, a sort of anonymous famulus to our QoD scholars, if you will.

First, you have to look at the theoretical win. To simplify the matter, let's use a $10 blackjack player at a 1% house advantage and 100 hands an hour on a busy Friday night. Over time, that player is worth $10 an hour. Five players at the table? $50 over the 60-minute period. Four tables to a section? The theoretical win: $200.

Now, each player gets two drinks in the hour at, say, $1 each; there goes $40. Base pay and benefits for the four dealers and their relief dealer add up to, say, $10 an hour each; that's another $50. The floor supervisor is making maybe $28 an hour in salary and benefits; the relief supervisor will hit all four sections, so make it another $7 an hour. Now we're up to $125.

Our guy tells us that he has to figure in another 15% of the theo in reinvestment costs: cards, shoes, racks, chips, felt, tables, chairs, and the big one, new technology. That's another $35. Total $160. That leaves us $40 an hour to pay for surveillance, shift managers, security, electricity, maintenance, Human Resources, C-suite salaries, and the millions upon millions that a major casino spends on marketing, overhead, and taxes.

Which brings us to the second major factor in this decision, one that we're sure few people consider.

Most states tax table games on gross gaming revenue (GGR), emphasis on the gross. That's the drop, what players bring to the table, and not the hold, what they leave behind. Over time, this works out to the theo.

Nevada has an effective tax rate of 6.75%, so in our example, taxes over the long term would work out to $13.50 of that $200. Now we're up to $173.50. But Mississippi taxes at 12%, so in Tunica, on the $200 theo, that's $24 in taxes. Now take Pennsylvania at 16% on live-dealer GGR, for $32. In New York, fully automated ETGs are taxed at 25%, while live tables come in at just 10%.

But dig this. Pennsylvania's tax rate for a fully automated electronic table game is 50%, 5% less than a normal slot machine. On the other hand, a dealer-assist stadium game falls under the table tax at 16%. And don't even get us started about Illinois, which our guy calls a "tax quagmire." Bottom line: Taxes without a doubt go into the economics of the decision as to which way to go with table games.

Our guy tells us that labor, reinvestment, and overhead costs remain fairly consistent around the country, at least in terms of percentages on the profit & loss. However, the decision to go fully ETG will never be universal, or even consistent, due to tax regimes and legislative frameworks, which can vary drastically.

He sums up the situation with this, "In Nevada, taxes are flat and light at 6.75% of GGR, regardless of whether a game is fully manual, dealer-assisted, or electronically enhanced. That predictability makes Las Vegas a laboratory for innovation. By contrast, in Pennsylvania, live tables are taxed at 16%, while fully automated ETGs are hammered at 50%, falling slightly to 48% after the first year. But a dealer-assisted table still qualifies for the lower 16%. That policy alone can determine whether an operator installs a bubble craps machine or the dealer-assisted Roll To Win game.

"In short, The 'smart table revolution' doesn't move in a straight line; it zigzags according to local law."

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Comments

Joseph Oct-15-2025

Blackjack House Advantage

You used a 1% house advantage for blackjack, but the actual hold is a lot more. But I get your point about all the other costs.

Robert Scott Oct-15-2025

Fascinating

As you mentioned, few people consider. I never thought of all the moving parts to the decision. Great QOD.

DeltaEagle Oct-15-2025

Table Minimums

$10 tables are getting difficult to find. Even then unlikely all players are limiting bets to $10. That also ignores splits and doubles. Totally agree with expenses. The income component is low. It also disregards tables with over $10 bets. GG is downtown. Do not see this occurring on strip. Yes it will be an option there but not the norm.

Bob Nelson Oct-15-2025

Pessimistic hold

Even on a 3:2 table from my experience watching the average players 2-4% advantage seems more likely.  Throw in the side bets and 6:5 tables and that would go up some more.  Still hard to manage with the labor and burden costs but not as bad as this example IMO.

edibower Oct-15-2025

Decades of table games

My only thought regarding this is that the casinos have had table games for decades without the thought of getting rid of them.  I completely understand the economic model you present and it makes sense.  One of two things I guess, either the labor costs have gotten out of hand, or in years past they considered them a type of loss leader.......

Robert Carpentier Oct-15-2025

TAXES!!

Funny how that word 'taxes' keeps rearing its ugly head in the answer. Every employee who works in the casino pays income taxes. Taxes on each table game. Taxes on each gaming machine. Our gambling $$ has already been taxed before we bring it to the casino. Tax is being paid by whomever owns the land and/or buildings that the casino is located. When one is fortunate enough to get a W2-G while gambling, THAT is taxed. Yet our country is TRILLIONS in debt. The mind boggles!

Marcus Leath Oct-15-2025

Much larger house advantage

Most players who claim to play perfect or very good basic strategy come nowhere near doing that.  They play hands the same way whether the count is minus 5 or plus 5, and this gives the house a far larger advantage.  On top of that, most BJ players are clueless about all sorts of finer points of the game.  So most of the people one sees at the BJ tables are just shoving their money into the drop box and chip rack.  House advantage is way over 5% in my opinion on most tables.

TheHeater Oct-15-2025

Actual House Advantage

I have spent enough time sitting on blackjack tables to know that the actual effective house advantage is way more than 1%, when one considers actual play, and the use of the available side bets.

David Miller Oct-15-2025

Really???

 Stating the hold in blackjack is 1% is akin to telling slot players that their constant losing is entertainment.

Louis666 Oct-15-2025

Blackjack house adv

This analysis is written on from the casinos point of view.  Clearly the house advantage is way greater then 5%. That said ETG's will always be more profitable before taxes. So anywhere the taxes are close to the same. ETG's will eventually take over.

VegasROX Oct-15-2025

Advantage and taxes

Yep, from what I've observed, the house advantage on just about every table game, is WELLLL over the 1% stated for BJ, but probably well up into double digits (at least) as so many people plop down and have no idea what they are doing, they just do. On the ETG's....there is no need for supervisors, shift folks, pit bosses, dealers, security, and so many others who are paid. I don't mess with them due to much lower tiers, if any at all, no camaraderie with other players and just a pure loneliness of sitting there all alone. Put all ETG's in, just another reason to NOT go to a physical casino. You can play those at home or sitting in the park, on your phone.  Less players in the physical place might save the place a dollar a comped drink, but there is no need for hotel rooms, restaurants, gift shops, etc.

sunny78 Oct-15-2025

Wrong question

It's demand.New generation. New preferences who prefer electronic games. That's it,  per grok:

"Yeah, it's mostly supply and demand. Younger folks, say forty and below, heavily lean toward electronic games-they're faster, techy, and feel more familiar, like apps or online betting. Live dealers? Slower, social, but kinda old-school for that crowd. Golden Gate's betting on this shift to pull in Gen Z, who skip slots and craps tables for digital speed. That age gap, forty to fifty and below, drives the whole pivot."

Time moves on, new generations, new preferences. Follow the money. The end.

Loren Mannino Oct-15-2025

eye opening

Thank you for this breakdown, as a long time craps player it helps me to understand some of the frustrating developments I see in casinos today

JCCoryell Oct-15-2025

Blame the workers

It's always the same, blame the workers and their wages. The people who blame workers for everything want to get paid themselves? No? Nothing mentioned about all the greedy bad decisions casinos make that cost them millions.  Nothing said about all the land sold out from under the buildings built decades ago that they must now pay exorbitant rent on. Nothing g said about the massive debt that must be serviced due to constant acquisitions.

Bob Nelson Oct-16-2025

Marcus Leath

Basic strategy has absolutely nothing to do with card counting.  It is simply the best way to play each hand with no other information than the rules of the game. If you knew how to count cards you should absolutely know that fact.

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