October Sees Fewest NV Poker Tables Since 2005Despite The Reduction Of Tables, Poker Revenue Likely Up This Year |
|
This past October saw the fewest poker tables in Nevada since July 2005.
There were 691 tables, and the last time it dropped below 700 was in July 2005, according to research from the University of Nevada Las Vegas. The 691 tables had revenue of $8,743,000.
The peak for Nevada poker tables came in July 2010, when there were 1,002 tables statewide. The World Series of Poker is responsible for summer spikes every year.
Last year, Nevada averaged nearly 775 tables over the 12 months. This year, the average so far is 747 tables and the numbers from November and December are unlikely to drastically change that.
The number of poker rooms in Nevada was just 88 in 2013, the fewest since 2004.
“In general, poker has, since 2006, become steadily less profitable for Nevada casinos. The win per table has fallen dramatically to early 1990s levels. The large number of tables, however, indicates that it is still an amenity that many choose to provide, though it does not produce significant revenues on its own,” the UNLV report said.
Nevada had overall gaming revenue of $11.14 billion last year.
Live and online poker in Nevada brought in $123,891,000 during 2013, up from $123,253,000 in 2012. Last year’s poker revenue number represented the first increase year-over-year since 2006 to 2007. The revenue record of $167,975,000 was set in 2007.
Through October, Nevada online poker has yielded more than $7.5 million this year. Live poker tables in Nevada have seen combined revenues of more than $101 million through October. It’s likely that the Silver State will see another overall uptick from poker this year, despite the decrease in live tables and one of its online poker sites closing down.
The plunge in live tables can be attributed to closings of a number of poker rooms over the past several years. Circus Circus, Sunset Station, Texas Station, Palms, Bill’s Gambling Hall, M Resort, Tropicana, Gold Coast, Tuscany and Fitzgerald’s all not too long ago shed their respective rooms because they weren’t making enough money for the property.
Dr. David Schwartz, who heads UNLV’s gaming research, told Card Player about why October, specifically, saw less than 700 tables. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why October dipped so low.
“Some of the decline is due to the gradual shrinking of the market as casinos close poker rooms,” he said. “The rest may be rooms scaling back and taking tables out of service.”
MGM Grand and Caesars are two of the bigger Las Vegas poker rooms to downsize recently. Those poker rooms now have 14 and 16 tables, respectively.
He added that live poker tournament schedules also influence the number of cash game tables in Las Vegas, and that this October might have been slower than normal.
For comparison, the number of poker tables in the state of California is around 1,600, so more than double of Nevada. California is home to dozens of tribal casinos and card rooms. Also, Florida has more poker tables than Nevada, surprisingly. Pennsylvania and New Jersey have in the neighborhood of a third of the poker tables in the Silver State.
Copyright © 2001-2024
CardPlayer.com. All rights reserved.
