Do B&M rooms generate any kind of substantial profit for the casinos??

[teddyFBI]

Elementary question, I suppose, but I've been trying to work through the numbers, and can't imagine that the B&M casinos really make any kind of substantial profit from the minimal amount they take in from rake. Is it simply that they want to attract more guests who will then stay in their rooms, eat in their restaurants, and lose their money at their other games?? Because a poker room, by itself, I can't imagine being all that profitable...

[Edge34]

If there's enough tables, rake isn't exactly "minimal". I think at Canterbury, they've got 33 tables, and the max rake is something like $4 (10% up to 4 or something like that...someone will correct me). And trust me, that place could survive just fine these days without the blackjack and pai-gow in the back. Back before the poker boom, you might have been closer to the situation casinos faced, but there's always been people willing to play...and pay while doing so.

[Clarkmeister]

Substantial? No. People are wildly overestimating the revenue/table. 24/7 isn't even close to how most tables run. An average table in an average room is going to do about $700-800/day. Not chump change, but unless you are in Nevada, gaming taxes are generally in the 20-30% range and that's on the gross. $500/day net per table with a lot of overhead. Compare that to slots which average (depending on the market) about $200/day, have way less overhead, and take up about 1/10th the space.

[budman]

Very true. In Connecticut, the Mohegan Sun closed their poker room because the room was horribly managed and the real estate was more profitable with 5 cent slots. And this was a room that was extremely busy.

It was a real shame, but you've got to assume they put a pencil to it.

They seem to have been able to survive just fine without poker.

[SonOfWestwood]

I heard that a table running 24/7 grosses about 750K a year. Assuming $3 rake per hand and 30 hands per hour, my math gives me a total of $788,400 gross per year. I don't know how that compares to something like a Blackjack table, but it sure looks like a significant amount...

[Jaquen H'gar]

Per square foot, casinos make MUCH much more with slots than poker. They make more with slots than BJ; and more with BJ than poker.

[Biloxi]

[ QUOTE ]
Per square foot, casinos make MUCH much more with slots than poker. They make more with slots than BJ; and more with BJ than poker.

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Correct^^
Beau Rivage removed its Poker Room shortly after opening it because the area would make MUCH more with slots or other games.

[DBowling]

$3 a hand 30 hands an hour. $90 an hour and they only pay minimum wage to the dealer. Why wouldnt they profit from this?

[canis582]

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$3 a hand 30 hands an hour. $90 an hour and they only pay minimum wage to the dealer. Why wouldnt they profit from this?

[/ QUOTE ]

Opportunity cost, yo.

[youtalkfunny]

[ QUOTE ]
$3 a hand 30 hands an hour. $90 an hour and they only pay minimum wage to the dealer. Why wouldnt they profit from this?

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And to the cocktail server.

And the bartender.

The cashier and the brush make a little more.

The floorman makes even more.

And they all want health insurance benefits.

And those players want comp drinks. In some places, food.

Advertising, insurance, mortgage, gaming license, the light bill.....there is substantially more than the dealer's salary to consider.