Poker Just 1.13% Of Nevada Gambling Revenue In 2012

Over the past two years at least eight poker rooms have closed on the Las Vegas Strip raising concerns that the biggest gambling trend of the last 25 years may finally be waning.
In 2007, poker revenue in Nevada reached its peak generating $168 million in revenue but by 2012 had fallen to $123 million. The position poker holds in the overall gambling hierarchy is also quite small when you consider that figure represents just 1.13% of Nevada’s overall gambling revenue of $10.86 billion in 2012.
Even Nevada’s celebrated World Series of Poker main event has seen its fortunes wane since peaking in 2006 at 8,773 entries and last year attracted a much smaller crowd of 6,598 players.
Several factors seem to have been instrumental in causing poker’s recent decline, including a world recession, and the DoJ shutting down the three biggest online poker sites in 2011.
As far as casinos are concerned, poker may not offer high-profits because rather than taking money direct from players the casinos instead collects around 5% of the pots played. Nevertheless, in the past casinos were more inclined to promote the game and install rooms as it helped attract increasing number of visitors to their gambling establishments.
Commenting on the recent spate of poker room closures, “Gambling in America” author William Thompson, explained: “I just think the allure of poker is lessening. That’s one reason the smaller casinos would just say, ‘Hey it’s not worth all the time to set everything up. A slot machine would do a lot better.'”
The trend, now, is for the larger casinos to monopolize the poker action as smaller casinos are less likely to be able to make operating poker rooms profitable. Giving an insight into the future of bricks-and-mortar poker, Venetian poker director Kathy Raymond explained:
“I think that the love people have for poker hasn’t subsided. It may be part of the economic environment, but I don’t think the interest has subsided at all..You really need volume to operate a successful poker room. The overhead can’t be absorbed by just a few tables.”