Is Poker profitable for casinos?
So, that got me into thinking, is poker actually good business? I mean, do casinos actually make considerable winnings from these rooms? I went ahead and did some research on my own and found some interesting results. Apparently, the answer to my question is a resounding No…and yes.
The studies I found both certified that the majority of the revenue that a casino makes does not come from poker, but from slots mainly and other table and tabletop games like Roulette, Blackjack and Craps.
So why are casinos not being business savvy and re-utilizing the poker room spaces to put more slots or roulette tables? Because, apparently, having a poker room can also increase the flow of players to the other games, particularly slots. Hey, I get it.
In my humble casino beginnings, I would not even dare to go near the poker table; I would just snoop in and then go try my luck at some other games, like, you guessed it, slots and Blackjack!
The reason why the studies are confusing is because although there is no way to effectively create a correlation between the simultaneous increase of revenue in both the poker room and the slots machines, the revenue did increase during the time the researchers monitored both rooms.
The sty was conducted by a group led by Dr. Anthony Lucas, Professor of Hotel Administration at UNLV. He obtained the data from three resorts in Las Vegas by analyzing their daily revenue for a period of almost a full year. He tried to establish a relation between the rake of the poker room and the revenues of the slot machines and the table games. To do this, he performed six statistical tests, but only found evidence of a correlation in one of the six. So, he recommended casinos not to even bother having a poker room because it is not a moneymaking venture.
Although I understand his recommendation, I do not 
agree with him. Why? Because when the poker room flow increased in the six tests, the revenue in the other games also increased, but he just could not PROVE why? Get my point? Sometimes it is not about statistics and science; it is about human curiosity and behavioral patterns. I have my own little theory…
I think that poker, being the most popular or most publicized of the casino games, is like the Pied-piper. With all the glitz and glamour of the sport on tournaments, movies, shows, etc, new players flock to the casinos attracted by all the glitz and glamour.
When they sit down at the table or observe it, sometimes they might feel that they do not have the skills to really win some money so they decide to try their luck on other games. Maybe they should have practiced with some online poker at Palace of Chance first! Anyway, it is Poker what lures them to the casino in the first place! See my point? Do you guys agree with my theory? I think that the casinos do, because they do not seem ready to say goodbye to their poker rooms, and neither are us! Poker is such a classic staple of the casinos that it would totally ruin the mood if they went away, it just goes to show you that some things, even casinos, are not always about money!
