Now that Atlantic City casinos have reopened after the coronavirus pandemic shuttered them, patrons can play blackjack, craps and other table games. But they can’t play poker.
“Poker is tough,” Steve Callender, regional president of Caesars Entertainment Inc. and president of the Casino Association of New Jersey, told the Greater Atlantic City Chamber. “It’s a challenge. I wouldn’t venture (to say) when we’re going to see poker come back.”
Atlantic City has five poker rooms: Bally’s Atlantic City, Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, Golden Nugget Atlantic City, Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City and Tropicana Atlantic City.
The crux of the problem relates to keeping guests and employees safe from the Covid-19 virus. Las Vegas poker rooms have table capacity limits and dividers between players. While New Jersey could take a similar tack is it worth the money given the limited profitability of poker, according to the Press of Atlantic City.
“A live poker room does not bring a great deal directly to the bottom line,” said Bob Ambrose, a gaming industry consultant, professor of casino management and former Atlantic City executive. “It does bring bottom line revenues to the other property amenities, such as restaurants, bars and even other non-poker gaming. … I would say you gain more from it as a marketing tool for visitation.”
Big events, such as the World Series of Poker, bring attention and visitors but not the kind of gaming revenue slots and other table games do. Casinos get a small commission in poker, known as the rake.
Borgata, with the largest poker room, generated nearly $17.9 million in poker revenue in 2019. Compare that to Bally’s and Harrah’s, which combined earned less than $5 million and it goes down from there.
But that doesn’t send poker rooms to the dust bin of history.
“Many serious players like the slower pace and methodical experience of a live game,” Ambrose said. “The poker footprint in the casino is a must have for diversification of gaming product and experience for the player.”
