Quote:
Originally Posted by paulhamr
Will Rivers casino in Des Plaines ever open a poker room? I think they could easily draw players that currently go to Elgin, Joliet or Hammond, IN.
Short answer? No.
More detailed; Walk in there right now. Does it look like they're struggling to draw people? Absolutely not. To the casino bean counters, poker rooms are a tremendous waste of resources where they hope to do little better than break even. To make things worse, IL gaming regs require each seat to count as a gaming position against their licensed number thereof, whereas Indiana allows each table to count as one position. So, in summary, Illinois casinos only add poker rooms when they're struggling to generate traffic, and they do so with the hopes that at least some of those players bring wives who'll go park in front of the slots. Given Rivers prime location near the intersection of two major tollways, and a stone's throw from a major airport hub and its surrounding hotels, I honestly have a hard time seeing a poker room at Rivers in my lifetime.