Video Poker - The Game Of Choice
May 18th, 2009
Video poker is not just a game of choices but the game of choice for most new casino players. Although no scientific survey has been done to confirm my assertion, the number of video-poker machines being manufactured and distributed to various casinos around the country (and the world) indicates that it is the game of choice for a substantial minority of all casino players and a growing majority of machine players. More than 50 percent of the floor space reserved for machines in most casinos is taken up by video-poker machines. While most casinos do not distinguish between video poker (or other video games) and slots in their published win and hold figures (all of them falling under the generic "slot" label), most of the casino executives I spoke to agreed that video-poker players are the fastest-growing segment of the playing public.
One Las Vegas slot manager had this to say: "Video poker of all varieties is the most popular form of machine play. As we draw up our plans for future placement of new machines in our expanded floor space, we are running 70/30 video poker to traditional slots. The traditional slots have a huge following but the video-poker generation is coming of age. Right now it's close but in the next 20 years I expect that video poker will outperform the traditional slots and dominate the casino landscape."
Some casino personnel made a point of alerting me to consider who plays what kind of machine as one explanation for the growing popularity of video poker. Stated one casino executive in Atlantic City: "Look at who plays video poker and who plays slots and you'll see that the majority of your slot players are older. These are people who have been coming to casinos for years and are in the habit of slot playing. These same people, the majority of whom are women, rejected playing table games in the past, for whatever reason. The video-poker players on average are younger. Many of the older video-poker players are former table-game players who can't afford the higher stakes at today's table games or don't want to play the table games anymore. Video-poker players, especially the younger ones, tend to be better educated; a substantial minority of them have college degrees or at least some college education. There is no doubt in my mind that if the current video-poker trends continue, video poker will be the dominant casino game in the near future."
Another Las Vegas executive said: "Video poker offers what table games offer but at a lower price. You get to make choices, you get to fully participate in the game. But unlike table games, no one is overlooking your play. No one is second-guessing the choices that you make. It's just you and the machine and only your bankbook knows for sure just how you're doing. Here in Vegas, video poker is a good bet as well. The player knows he is getting a good run for his money. In fact, some video-poker machines pay out more than the table games do if you know the right strategies."
It would not be a stretch of the imagination to postulate that the growth in video-poker play is a direct result of the aging of the video-games generation of the 1970s. The donkey-kongsters of the 1970s have become the video-poker aficionados of today's expanding casino empire. These are people who cut their teeth on the video screen and now have gone on to bigger and better video experiences. As kids their egos and neighborhood reputations were on the line in their video games—now it's their money. What a rush! And their numbers will continue to balloon as each succeeding generation of video-gamesters comes into its maturity. In the future we might see on-line video machines directly linked to casinos where a player can build up credits and debits on some type of credit card—in the privacy and convenience of his own home.
Dr. Marvin Karlins, psychologist, gaming expert, and author of many works both in and out of the gaming field, including the seminal Psyching Out Las Vegas!, addressed this very issue when I spoke to him regarding the phenomenal growth of machine play in today's casinos. "Today's video-poker machines offer the players a good gamble for their money. With the proper strategies on some machines the players can even have a slight edge over the casino. For a gambler it doesn't get any better than that. It also affords the player two very important psychological inducements for playing— anonymity and autonomy—in addition to the possibility of winning some money. There are choices to make but no one to criticize you if you seemingly make the wrong choice. This would especially appeal to people who are somewhat anxious with the thought of approaching table games where you would have to interact with many others—some of whom might be critical of your play."
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