Gambling with cards or dice or stocks is all one thing. It's getting money without giving an equivalent for it. - Henry Ward Beecher
Brick and mortar casinos being opposed to online poker does not make any sense to me.
Here’s why.
I began playing poker with friends in 2003 and had never player poker in a casino before. To improve my game, I began playing online in 2004 and you know what happened? I began to want to play more, not just on the internet though, I wanted to play more live. Although the internet is fun, there is no substitute for looking at one’s opponents and the social interaction involved in playing poker. Although I had been to casinos before, I went to play poker live at a casino for the first time in 2005. I loved it. Although, I still play often with my friends in a homegame and I still play online at night when I have the chance, nothing compares to the challenge, fun, and excitement of playing live in a real card room in a real casino. I have traveled to casinos to play live 8 times (in three different states) since then. Playing online, for me, will never be an equal substitute for playing live but it is fun for when you can’t play live. I bet most bloggers would never have gone to play live at a casino if not for getting a taste of the action online. I think all B&M casinos would benefit from an influx of more new players that could be introduced to the game via the convenience of the internet.
Therefore, why in the world do casinos oppose online poker? If more people were allowed the chance to try poker at stakes low enough for beginners to enjoy the game, there would be hordes of more entry level players interested in making their first trip to a casino to play in a real card room. After that, it is up to the casino to make the player want to return to their property, as opposed to some other. In any case, more access to internet poker would equal more new players in the casino card rooms, which would be good for the casinos, as well as, the more skilled players that frequent them.
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3 comments:
I understand where your sentiment comes from, but the reality is that online poker is competition, not just a feeder into the live games. Sure, it's nice to allow newbies to get into the game, but I guarantee that there are more players foregoing B&M casinos to play online then there are new players transitioning from online to B&M at any given moment. It's not just about getting new customers either. It's about retaining and monopolizing the play of established players. Guys like Matusow play mostly online now because they don't have to leave their house. Here's another great example. Poker blogger Miami Don plays online moreso that live, from my understanding, just because of convenience. That's money out of the casino's pockets.
Now, if online gambling was legal, I can pretty much also guarantee that Harrahs.com, MGM.com, etc. would each have online poker rooms and casinos. But since the casinos cannot legally get into that market without tempting the local gaming commissions, they'd rather just get rid of online gambling altogether.
PS- Sorry to hear about your cat, and good luck with the employment situation.
if B&M's could partner with online sites, it would bring more inexperienced players into their poker rooms. for instance, they could run satellites into smaller live tournaments like say the Venetian Deepstack or Caesars tournaments. offer low buy-in sats online to their $300-$1k tourneys online. This would also bring more dead money into their live tournaments which would be awesome for everyone. if Commerce or the Bike would do the same, i'd be more inclined to drive out there and play live. the live satellite structures at Commerce and the Bike suck ass as do most live satellites. As it is now, you can only play online sats into large buy-in events.
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