Readers of this column know I'M a “table games guy.” I cut my teeth in “the pit.” Table games, especially craps, are my gambling preference. I created the Table Games Conference and the most productive New Table Games Competition that BNP Media Gaming Group have made into such great successes.
I have long believed that table games are fun, social and essential. Without them, all now we have are what the late Bill Eadington used to name “vending machine casinos,” without spirit, and oftentimes now, employees.
I was distressed for just about the last 20 years watching slot machines gobble up casino floor space, and table game directors surrendering that space without hardly putting up a fight.
I know these trends has been good for casino profits (and slot directors’ paychecks), but I strongly believe that they have got been harmful to our casinos’ souls. A player can now go into most parts of most casinos, most all around the country, and never should have a single interaction with a single casino employee.
Well, I'M here today to provide you some great news at the table games front. Well, maybe it’s not news, per se, perhaps only that my opinion has changed on table games’ future in casinos. For the primary time in decades, I'M optimistic.
Table game revenues are showing growth in lots of gaming markets, and strong growth in some. Millennials (and regardless of the hell the latest generations of twenty-somethings are called) are playing tables rather than slots. Poker remains to be popular and a few new table games are gaining in popularity. In markets like Macau and Singapore, table games are kicking butt.
So, what’s happening here? Well, if I'M right about all of this, then there have to be some underlying forces at work and these are what I FEEL they are:
• Slots have managed to take slot players’ money too increasingly fast for too long.
• Kids find slots boring, while finding tables “cool” and an opportunity to be social and get their eyes off in their smartphones.
• INCREASINGLY MORE innovative table game operators has been fighting back, trying new table games, creating more fun playing experiences like party pits and game instruction areas. It’s not only “dealing by procedures” and “hands per hour” for these table game trailblazers anymore.
• Table game departments haven't squeezed out all the playing value from their games like slot departments have. Sure, there’s the ever present “6 to five blackjack” games and rip-off carny games around, but there's still liberal blackjack, 10X odds on craps (or more), low minimum tables still available at most casinos, and great playing value and a low house edge in baccarat.
But I FEEL the principle reason that the table game business future is bright is because it’s social and involves interactions with people. Slots may have “community gaming machines” and a few hoopla promotions, but they'll never hold a candle to the “show,” the interactions and the relationship-building opportunities that make up the table game playing experience.
And so, my dear table game brethren, you'll be able to take care of hold percentages and hands per hour, optimal staffing schedules and so on. Otherwise you can take care of making a playing experience in your customers that gives fun, playing value, and most of all, great interactions with great relationship-building potential. I DO KNOW what I'D choose.
So there’s your opportunity. But your table game window could be a short one. Unquestionably your slot counterparts will at some point open their eyes too.
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