What Do I Do With My Table Games?
By Bill Zender
This short article was taken from The Adams Daily Report, April 23, 2002:
Sands Casino Folding its Hand on Table Games
New Jersey (Operations) - Joe Weinert- Atlantic City - Sands Casino Hotel is taking a national gaming trend to its near extreme, junking more than half of its table games. When the reshuffling is complete by early July, Sands will have a mere 28 traditional table games, plus 10 poker tables. Even the city's smallest casino, Claridge, has more than twice that many. Sands is replacing the 43 discarded tables with 400 slot machines that don't require dealers, supervisors or pit bosses.
Many casino operators across the country are asking themselves, “What do I do with my table games? Should I try different forms of marketing the games or should I do what the Sands Casino in Atlantic City did - trade their floor space for additional slot machines? Is it worth spending money to market my games or is it time to glean the additional revenues generated by operating more of those lovely, highly productive slot and video machines?”
This is not a new topic that’s come to light since the September 11 tragedies. The allocation of floor space to slot machines and table games has been batted back and forth across executive meeting tables for quite some time. In light of the coming of age of the “Nintendo Generation” are the high-touch, low-tech table games ready for the junk heap? Is it time for all casino operators to finally submit to the fact that the kings of the casino, the table games of Blackjack, Craps, Roulette and Baccarat, have become obsolete, or at best, the “other alternative” gaming attraction?
A casino operator might think, “Why do we need live gaming tables anyway?” The Sands replaced 43 table games with 400 slot machines. If the table games were averaging $1,000 in profit a day and the existing slot machines were averaging $120 in profit a day, in theory the casino stands to earn more bottom line revenue with slots. After all, they are avoiding the direct labor expense of staffing dealers, floor supervisors and pit managers needed to operate the games 24 hours a day. One casino executive, after he announced to the casino staff his plan to remove tables from the floor to make room for additional slot machines, used this maxim: “When’s the last time you had a slot machine call in sick at the last minute, request to go home during shift or jockey for an early out?”
If the Sands is receiving a bottom line windfall between the additional revenues and the decrease in labor expense, why did they stop at removing only 43 games? Why not remove them all and add another 250 slot machines?
If you were in a casino executive meeting when that last statement was made, you would probably hear a pin drop on the table. What, a casino without table games? Is that possible? Yes it is. In the gaming industry those casinos are called “Slot Arcades.” Rows and rows of machine after machine, shiny uniformed soldiers all standing in formation ready to go forth into battle. Or as one executive put it, “Like rows and rows of tombstones.” All without a table game, card player or dealer in sight. Is this the avenue the future of casino gaming is traveling?
In theory, additional revenues and reduced cost seem like the logical first step to creating a more successful casino. However, it misses the most important pieces of the puzzle that makes gambling attractive in the first place: excitement, energy and interaction with other human beings. Remember, gambling is basically a form of adult entertainment. People wish to place something of value in jeopardy with a chance to win the same valued amount. At the same time, they have a deep desire to do this in an environment where other people are available to acknowledge their successes and failures. Simply put, they want to be entertained, or receive some entertainment value, for the dollars they spend.
In looking back over the years at some of the more successful slot arcade operations in downtown Las Vegas, one will notice the steps their operators took to provide the player with the “warm fuzzy” touch of human involvement. They added slot carousels manned by eager and friendly slot attendants. They had coupon greeters standing just outside their doors, not only to steer players into their establishments, but to greet them and make them feel noticed. The operator also lined every coin tray of every machine with tin sheet metal, so when a player hit a multiple coin jackpot, everyone in the arcade could hear it. The recipient of the jackpot could become the center of attention of every “lookie-loo” in the casino. Through the process of trial and error the operators learned that their successes revolved around the human element more so than the electronic enticement.
Take this example a step further. Casino operators in Iowa and Colorado were stuck with an unusual problem. Due to the wisdom of their own states’ legislative committees, the licensed casinos could not accept a wager on any live game for more than five dollars. In addition, some local historical town site laws restricted the percentage of floor space that could be utilized for gaming. Hamstrung by these enormous restrictions, the slot arcade concept looked very attractive. However, many operators decided that a casino really wasn’t a casino without the table games of Blackjack and Poker. As it turned out, for the most part these gaming operations became the most successful. In these locations the live game pit usually occupied a place on the floor that could be viewed from the main doors into the casino where potential customers could see the activities of players. The pits became the center of attraction and helped defer the appearance of “tombstone row.” Those casino executives knew the best way to entice people on the street to enter their establishments was this: “The action is the attraction.”
Don’t be so quick to eliminate tables and break out the calculator to see how much additional slot machines could add to revenue. Without the energy created by the human interaction between the table games players and the casinos employees, the effect of increased slots might not be a matter of multiplying 250 more machines by $120. Instead, it could result in the multiplying of all the machines on your casino floor by $80. In other words, without the “action” you may not have the “attraction.”
Maybe all of the above rhetoric hasn’t elevated live table games back to the lofty position of “king of the casino,” but the live games still can’t be relegated to the level of “alternative gaming” either. The necessity of the pit as the focal point of any casino, whether large or small, can never be overlooked. |
|
