Casinos Start Courting the Poker Crowd

"The prevailing wisdom was that customers raised on computers would be more inclined to play a video slot or video poker machine," says Boughner. "What we learned is that because they spend so much of their lives in front of the computer, they enjoyed the more convivial atmosphere of a table game."

Bally's Atlantic City, which is owned by Caesars Entertainment (CZR), removed some blackjack tables to make more room for poker, and Trump's Taj Mahal is still a noted poker mecca, home to the U.S. Poker Championship.

But if other Atlantic City operators really want to court young customers and capitalize on the buzz, they will have to sacrifice those high-margin slot machines and hope poker aficionados stick around to eat in the fancy restaurants, dance in nightclubs and shop at the new stores. With gaming floors already packed with machines, there's no room for no-limit in many existing casinos.

"A lot of the properties are constrained as to where they can put a poker room or the size that they can dedicate to it, so I don't see poker growing a whole lot," says Ernie D'Ambrosio, director of strategic planning for Innovation Group, a gaming consultant. "Some of the operators, like the Taj Mahal, which has a large poker room, can benefit from it, but it's not so much in poker [revenue], but getting the Taj name out there."

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