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Record Indian Gaming Revenues Not Exactly Helping Tribal-State Relations

Indian gaming has gone from bingo halls in the boonies to big business. Plus, revenues just keep on rising. A fact that only seems to exacerbate the many divisive issues between the Native American tribes that own casinos and the states they operate in.

It was 1987 when the Supreme Court of the United States decided states that allow some form of gaming have no authority to regulate or prohibit gaming on Indian land.

The decision amounted to an invitation for a huge number of Native American tribes to build casinos. In fact, hundreds eventually would.

Indian Gaming Regulatory Act

A year later, federal lawmakers tried to give states some measure of control over Indian gaming. They passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA).

IGRA essentially required states to enter into good-faith negotiations with tribes establishing gaming operations. The outcome of these negotiations are the gaming compacts that make the Indian gaming operations lawful. However, they also often give tribes exclusive rights to gaming in the areas where they operate in return for a piece of revenues going to the state or host community.

At the time, general consensus among members of Congress was Indian gaming wasn’t worth much. In fact, some even said it amounted to little more than a couple of slot machines and bingo games hundreds of miles and millions of dollars away from the legal and regulated casino industry in Nevada and New Jersey. However, it got big fast.

By 1993, the New York Times reported as many as 175 tribes in 25 states had jumped in the gaming business. Plus, Indian gaming was suddenly a $6-billion-a-year industry growing by $1 billion annually.

A Native American casino construction boom continued for the next 25 years and now, the industry is even bigger than anticipated.

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Record Indian gaming revenues

The National Indian Gaming Commission says there are 494 gaming operations owned by 242 federally recognized tribes operating inside the US today.

Plus, it released financials for fiscal 2017 this week, showing gross gaming revenue hit $32.4 billion, a 3.9 percent jump over 2016.

Of course, gross gaming revenue is calculated before the cost of employee salaries and other operating expenses are deducted. Plus, whatever piece of revenues the state or host community gets as a part of the tribal-state compacts have yet to be deducted as well.

Tribal-state gaming compacts vary from state to state, tribe to tribe, and even casino to casino. However, most states are generally able to negotiate a deal that will give it somewhere between 15 and 25 percent of revenues.

Even at the low end, that’s billions of dollars. It’s the kind of money the states involved have become increasingly dependent on. Something that makes the tribes tremendously influential, particularly when it comes to gambling expansion issues.

Tribal-state issues abound

California gaming tribes have already used that influence. They’ve wielded it to at least slow down the passage of sports betting and online poker legislation. Concerns that widespread legal sports betting might infringe upon gaming exclusivity rights in New York has effectively done the same.

Plus, tribal-state gaming compact negotiations have become increasingly acrimonious over the years.

In Upstate New York, the Seneca Nation of Indians has even stopped making payments to the state. It owns and operates six casinos. However, the tribe claims its compact allows it to stop making contributions to the state after 14 years.

Of course, it could just be sour grapes. The state authorized the opening of four commercial casinos over the past 18 months. They all sit just outside the tribe’s area of exclusivity.

Even beyond New York and California, relations are tense between gaming tribes and the states they operate in these days. The fact that Indian gaming revenues are breaking records is good news for tribes. But it does very little to help that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Five Of The Best Celebrity WSOP Main Event Performances In History

For poker players, the World Series of Poker Main Event has always been the ultimate event in which to star gaze. Just about every superstar in the poker world from Negreanu to Ivey, Hellmuth to Seidel pay their $10,000 in an effort to climb poker’s Mount Everest and become the World Series of Poker Main Event champion.

However, it is not just the stars of the poker world who enjoy the challenge of battling through the throngs of players in an effort to win a multi-million-dollar payday. Hollywood heavyweights have flirted with poker for decades and massive movie stars like Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Don Cheadle, Ray Romano and, of course, Jennifer Tilly have all been spotted in the field in years past.

It’s true that many celebrities have tried and, frankly, most have failed when it comes to cashing in the Main Event. But there have been a few that have put their careers on hold for a few days and embraced the grind to wind up inside the money bubble.

Here we celebrate the celebrities that have mixed it up on the felt and accomplished some fantastic WSOP Main Event finishes.

Nick Cassavetes

Writer/director/actor Nick Cassavetes has had a love affair with poker for the better part of two decades. An avid bridge and gin player, and a co-writer of the screenplay for the Johnny Depp big screen movie Blow, Cassavetes found his way into poker the same way an entire generation of players did: Chris Moneymaker.

In 2005, shortly after directing the iconic romance movie The Notebook, Cassavetes was working on another project – making a deep run in the Main Event. With $7.5 million up top, the prize eventually won by a then unknown Aussie player named Joe Hachem, Cassavetes was taking time off his Hollywood grind to play what was reportedly his first ever tournament.

Although by his own admission, Cassavetes had not yet learned the finer points of the game, the deck smacked him in the face and the Entourage actor finished in 93rd place for $77,710.

Cassavetes has continued to play after that run, appearing on PokerStars’ The Big Game and High Stakes Poker, as well as reportedly being a regular in the high-stakes Hollywood community.

Kevin Pollak

Actor/comedian Kevin Pollak, known for his superior impression of Christopher Walken, has been a life-long poker player. However, it wasn’t until he landed a role in Martin Scorsese’s 1995 masterpiece Casino that he really got bit by the poker bug. According to Pollack himself, during the course of the 20 week shoot, he got his true education in poker by taking a seat in various poker rooms around town during his considerable downtime.

Though hooked, it took until 2012 for Pollack to find the time to play his very first Main Event. He not only found his way into the event, but he became a centerpiece for ESPN’s coverage, tangling on the televised feature table with some the Usual Suspects like poker pros Chance Kornuth and Daniel Negreanu.

Despite playing against some top-level talent, the Pollak show continued all the way into Day 5. Things were looking up when he found a nice spot to get his final chips in the center holding pocket queens. The only problem was he ran into Krill Rabtsov who also held pocket queens. What looked like it was going to be a chop, turned into Pollak’s final hand as the board helped his opponent hit the unlikely flush. Pollak’s dream run ended in 134th place for $52,718. It’s his only recorded cash to date.

He even video blogged about his experience — way before vlogs were all the rage in poker.

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Sully Erna

Salvatore “Sully” Erna probably looked like any other poker player in the field during the 2007 Main Event, having played in the Main Event for a few years prior. After all, it wasn’t his look that he was famous for.

Erna is the gravel-voiced lead singer for heavy metal music veterans Godsmack, a band that has been nominated for four Grammys, earned three Billboard Top 200 number one albums and won the Rock Artist of the Year award at the 2001 Billboard Music awards.

Even though Godsmack’s career was still in good standing, Erna appeared to be transitioning into taking his poker game pretty seriously. During his 2007 run, Erna declared that he was an avid poker player, felt like he had a pretty solid game with superior ability to use his reads on the felt. He was hoping to better his 2006 finish which brought him over $17,000. He did just that by grinding his way to 237th place for $45,422.

Months later, at during the 2007 Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, the “I Stand Alone” singer continued to show his chops by finishing second in the $5K event to JC Tran for over $307,000.

Tobey Maguire

One of the Hollywood Home Games most feared players, and the subject of Molly Bloom’s ire, Tobey Maguire has a well-known thirst for the game of poker. Maguire, an A-list star with credits on his resume that include Pleasantville, Seabiscuit and, of course, the lead role in the original Spider-Man trilogy, had been playing poker for years.

Reportedly the best grinder in any given game in Tinseltown, the calculating Maguire had accumulated a number of five-figure scores leading up to participating in the 2007 WSOP Main Event.

Just like Erna, it wasn’t Maguire’s first time in the Main Event, but it was his most successful. Erna and Maguire found themselves playing shoulder-to-shoulder, hoping to scale the pay ladders and go deep in the event. For Maguire though, he was unable to survive an encounter with Irish poker legend Donnacha O’Dea when Maguire’s pocket kings clashed with O’Dea’s pocket aces. The hand crippled the wall-crawler and eventually Maguire bowed out of the Main Event in 292nd for $39,445.

It was reported that Maguire received $15 million for Spider-Man 3 which came out in the same year.

Bruce Buffer

The long-time voice of the UFC, Bruce Buffer has been a life-long poker player and public advocate of the game for well over a decade with results dating back to 2005. It wasn’t until 2010 that the fiery announcer was able to put together a Main Event run of his own and fight his way into the money.

Buffer lasted into Day 4, eventually finishing in 478th place for a $27,519 payday. The WSOP capitalized on having his famous voice in the house, asking Buffer, to return during the final table of that year to help kick off the festivities by bellowing out the traditional starting phrase “shuffle up and deal!”

The 2010 Main Event was the beginning of a heater for Buffer who reached a one-year deal to become the face of the now-defunct Luxor Poker Room. He then took down the 2010 Huster Casino Grand Slam of Poker Main Event for a career-high $75,000 score.

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Nevada Poker Report May 2018: 100 New Tables Added In Lead-Up To WSOP

Like clockwork, the number of poker tables in Las Vegas, Nevada swells from May to July every year. The reason: the thousands of poker players that flock to the city from around the globe for the World Series of Poker that begins in late May.

This time around, Las Vegas poker rooms added nearly 100 poker tables in May, but that’s just the buildup, the revenue bump from the WSOP won’t be felt until next month.

Still, there was a solid year-over-year revenue increase in May, as the Nevada Gaming Control Board reported a 2.85 percent increase in poker revenue for the month.

Poker revenue reached $9,171,000, compared $8,917,000 the state’s poker rooms collected in May 2017. However, it should be noted that the 2017 WSOP began on May 31, whereas the 2018 WSOP kicked off on May 29.

For the month of May, the NGCB counted 62 poker rooms and 688 tables. Interestingly, that’s well below the number of tables the state’s card rooms boasted in May 2017. Last year there was 62 poker rooms, but 724 tables.

On a per table basis, May 2018 easily bested last year’s numbers:

  • May 2017 table average: $12,316
  • May 2018 table average: $13,330

2018 live poker revenue in Nevada

12 month poker room and table trend

Over the last three months, Nevada has averaged 616 poker tables at 63 separate locations. Those rooms generated $27,603,000 over that period, a 2.36 percent increase over the same period last year.

Over the last 12 months Nevada has averaged 614 poker tables at 66 locations. During that time the state’s poker operators have generated $119,189,000, a 1.92 percent increase over the previous 12-month period.

  • June 2017: 62 poker rooms and 731 poker tables
  • July 2017: 63 poker rooms and 724 poker tables
  • August 2017: 63 poker rooms and 603 poker tables
  • September 2017: 62 poker rooms and 598 poker tables
  • October 2017: 61 poker rooms and 572 poker tables
  • November 2017: 62 poker rooms and 580 poker tables
  • December 2017: 61 poker rooms and 562 poker tables
  • January 2018:  63 poker rooms and 568 poker tables
  • February 2018:  64 poker rooms and 587 poker tables
  • March 2018: 62 poker rooms and 567 poker tables
  • April 2018: 64 poker rooms and 595 poker tables
  • May 2018: 62 poker rooms and 688 poker tables

Poker in Clark County

All of the new tables in May can be found in Clark County – which includes Las Vegas. The NGCB counted 37 poker rooms and 572 poker tables in Clark County in the month of May. That’s two fewer rooms than April, but 93 more tables.

Last May there were 38 poker rooms in Clark County. Those rooms boasted 599 poker tables.

Clark County routinely generates more than 90 percent of the total poker market share in Nevada. In May, Clark County poker rooms accounted for $8,353,000 of the $9,171,000 poker dollars collected by the state’s card rooms.

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Poker on the Las Vegas Strip

The Las Vegas Strip’s poker rooms make up the bulk of Clark County’s poker revenue. And during the WSOP it’s the Strip casinos that add the extra tables. Last month the Strip had 18 poker rooms and 280 tables. In May the Strip’s 18 poker rooms possessed 382 poker tables.

Nevada poker rooms by the numbers

The largest poker rooms in Las Vegas are mainly found on the Las Vegas Strip:

  • Venetian (The Strip) – 37 poker tables
  • Bellagio (The Strip) – 37 poker tables
  • Orleans (Las Vegas off-strip)- 35 poker tables
  • Wynn (The Strip) – 28 poker tables
  • Aria (The Strip) – 24 poker tables
  • South Point Casino (Henderson) – 22 poker tables
  • Green Valley Ranch Casino (Henderson) – 22 poker tables
  • Red Rock Casino (Summerlin) – 20 tables

Historical data and trends of poker in Nevada

Here’s a look at several key poker metrics from the UNLV Center for Gaming Research, which has been tracking the number of poker rooms, tables and revenue since 1992:

Year # of Rooms # of Tables Total Revenue % Change YoY
1992 92 564 74,701,000 -2.57
1993 89 571 70,814,000 -5.20
1994 93 586 71,667,000 1.20
1995 92 574 66,520,000 -7.18
1996 82 539 64,485,000 -3.06
1997 77 490 61,509,000 -4.61
1998 76 526 58,873,000 -4.29
1999 70 546 63,244,000 7.41
2000 68 473 63,064,000 -0.28
2001 65 475 59,673,000 -5.38
2002 57 386 57,791,000 -3.15
2003 58 383 68,276,000 18.15
2004 79 484 98,862,000 44.80
2005 96 701 140,224,000 42.00
2006 106 886 160,929,000 14.77
2007 113 907 167,975,000 4.38
2008 113 913 155,724,000 -7.29
2009 114 905 145,580,000 -6.54
2010 109 920 135,200,000 -7.13
2011 104 872 131,877,000 -2.46
2012 99 809 123,253,000 -6.54
2013 88 774 123,891,000 0.56
2014 79 736 119,904,000 -3.18
2015 76 681 118,023,000 -1.57
2016 73 661 117,753,000 -0.18
2017 71 615 118,455,000 0.60

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Opinion: WSOP Is Missing Chance To Expand Audience With Main Event Scheduling Misfire

ESPN deserves a recognized place in history for creating the World Series of Poker we know today. The television giant put poker on a pedestal that made the game inescapable from anyone flipping channels in the mid-2000s. Money poured in from the network to build the WSOP brand and create characters who are still recognized today.

However, in 2018, the same ESPN that established the Main Event as poker’s biggest spectacle is now tearing it down. Poor scheduling on behalf of ESPN for this year’s Main Event is tarnishing what should be two weeks with no room for complaint.

The elimination of the November Nine created a new era of poker for both players and fans. Last year’s compromise of two days off prior to the final table proved to be a success. Media created stories for casual fans to feed into the brief window. John Hesp’s miracle run to the final table reached worldwide status when BBC did a feature on the Englishman.

The potential to have a Hesp in 2018 is gone. The Main Event schedule places the first day of the final table 15 hours after the end of Day 7. Any player who is blessed enough to reach the final table is bound to decline interview requests as a means to sleep (you try sleeping with $8 million on the line) and prepare as much as possible for the biggest financial spot of their life. There is simply no time to create arcs to build on during the broadcast.

ESPN and the WSOP decided optimal scheduling for poker’s biggest spectacle is not worth any time to build up the characters for the viewing audience. The last time the final table took place the day after playdown day was in 2007, which is also the year before the inception of the November Nine. Social media did not exist as a means to promote players and ESPN owned all rights to broadcast the final table.

Casual viewers unable to have a ‘hero’ or ‘villain’ to provide a rooting interest are not going to be drawn in unless ESPN and the WSOP are able to conjure up Phil Ivey or Daniel Negreanu among the remaining nine.

The PokerGO live stream and ESPN telecast leading up to the final table can only go so far to drag away from other broadcasts unless there is an already established star deep. Those spotlights are few and far between.

ESPN does not have an immediate incentive to ‘grow poker’ but more viewers tuning into the Main Event for the first time helps both ratings and potential entrants in upcoming years. The argument for ESPN wanting to save money on production costs does not hold water. The $1 million Big One For One Drop plays immediately after the Main Event and goes live on ESPN. A three-day event of the Big One’s size fits perfectly into a potential gap between Day 7 and final table. Assuming ESPN is using the same crew for One Drop as they are the Main Event, those workers are still needed to work the additional days after the Main Event concludes.

To give the Main Event final tablists the short end of this non-existent deal demeans their achievement. Good luck trying to have them fly in family and friends on less than 24-hours notice. The ESPN stage boomed in 2017 with East Coast pals of Scott Blumstein who came in to support their man.

A guess in the defense of ESPN is their ostensible hope that another William Kassouf or Mickey Craft falls into their lap and makes the final table.

To their credit, the World Poker Tour wants to create stars out of all of those who attain status as a member of a televised final table in Season XVII. Their rival does not feel the same about their own talent and is taking them for granted.

A final table full of complete unknowns is a justified end to this saga.

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