Last Sunday, on a short deadline for my Green Felt Journal, I suddenly got inspired. I recalled that Caribbean Stud Poker no longer had a separate line item in the monthly Gaming Revenue Report (these things apparently stick in my head), and figured, that’s got to be worth a column.
Some digging for numbers and comment later, I had a story. You can read it for yourself:
But with limited floor space, games that no longer draw don’t last. This is nowhere more apparent than in looking at the fate of Caribbean Stud Poker in Nevada. Once nearly ubiquitous, it’s now nearly gone from the state’s casinos.
Caribbean Stud Poker is known in the industry as a proprietary table game. Some games, like roulette and blackjack, have rules that are in the public domain; any casino can offer them, as long as they get regulatory approval. Proprietary games, on the other hand, are developed by a creator who patents his or her work. The creator then sells the game to casinos, which pay a per-table rental fee ranging from $30 to $2,500 per month; more profitable tables command higher rents.
I learned a lot writing this one–I hope you find it interesting as well.