Poker's popularity prompts casinos to open new card rooms
A few years ago, casinos across the U.S. were closing their poker rooms to make room for more popular and profitable slot machines.
But in 2003, a 27-year-old Tennessee-based accountant defeated some of the world's best professional players on state television, sending the country into a poker frenzy.
Anyone who watches ESPN will already know this story: A man named Chris Moneymaker can win a $40 Texas HoldM poker competition on the Internet, qualify for the World Series poker game in Las Vegas, and earn $2.5 million through colorful character casts.
"When the world poker tour was on television and showed hole cards using technology, it sparked a great deal of interest in poker," said Gary Thompson, a spokesman for Harras Entertainment in Las Vegas. "Americans are very competitive people. You can't compete against Tiger Woods, a heavyweight boxer on a golf course or ring, but you can compete at the poker table and knock out the world champion."
As the game's popularity soared, Hae-ra acquired Binion's Horsch Casino in Las Vegas earlier this year, taking over the rights to the World Series of poker games. Thompson said that Hae-ra, which owns 28 casinos nationwide, recently opened poker rooms in three Midwestern casinos. He plans to add four more to other casinos.
Harrah's took advantage of his star status as a moneymaker by giving poker players across the country a chance to compete with former world champions. The moneymaker will be at a Kansas City casino on Aug. 22, and recently played at Harrah's in St. Louis at a similar event.
Harrer's Kansas City Casino opened a poker room on July 15, two weeks after Capri Island opened a poker room on the Kansas City property. Both casinos had poker rooms when they opened a decade ago, but Harrer closed their live poker tables in June 1998, and Capri Island closed their poker rooms in 2000.
"Based on what people see on television, the popularity of what we have right now has skyrocketed," said Tracy Owens, a spokeswoman for Amerista Casino, which operates casinos in Kansas City. 카지노사이트 순위
"In Kansas City, poker rooms are full on weekends, with 100 to 150 people playing games, and on typical weekday nights, there are more than 80 to 100 people."
There are signs that poker can have lasting power.