Why Aren’t There Any $5 Tables?

Why aren’t there any (or many) $5 blackjack tables at the casino?  That’s a common question I see on the message boards that I read.  Common sense always lead me to believe there weren’t many $5 table because the casinos don’t make much money on them.  I found some proof of this and thought I’d share.

The chart shows that a full $5 blackjack table only earns the casino about $42 an hour where a $25 table with only two people earns about twice and much.

I didn’t know the math, but this makes sense to me.  Next time you walk though a casino and you see all of those almost empty $25 tables you know why they are there.

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Las Vegas Writer, Marketer, Consultant. I love Vegas and everything about it. When in Vegas do 3 things: eat, drink & gamble.

5 Comments

  1. Thanks for sharing this. I’ve often wondered what the logic is of having multiple $25 minimum tables with barely any players when a $5 table would be full–if the casino had any! I figured they were losing money. I should have known the math would work out in their favor. Casinos never do anything without looking at the bottom line.

  2. JEF

    This explains a lot. Good job.

    Now I wonder why they don’t put in video/slot blackjack with decent rules at lower limits. Do you think it would steal table players?

    I’d love a $1-5 video blackjack game that had normal table rules.

  3. Marc

    Jef, I definitely think machines with better odds will take some players. There are enough people, like us, that look for an advantage in their gambling that would make enough of a dent.

  4. JEF

    Yea but imagine if they had rows of $1 video blackjack with continuous shuffle, DAS, 3 to 2, double any two, stay soft 17.

    The house edge would be .5 % which is consistent with video poker. It would be even better if players didn’t stick to basic strategy.

    I think this could be more profitable since the casinos would not have to pay dealers, card counting would be impossible, they would have perfect info for comps and would avoid losses due to table disputes (ie. “I said stand not hit.”). I also don’t see this sucking the air out of table games.

    I understand high end properties avoiding this but what about a low end property, like the nearly bankrupt Resorts, taking a chance and making it their advertising strategy.

  5. Marc

    That might be a option for low end properties. Resorts is a good example. Why not?

    In general, I think that tables will always remain in such high volume, in part, because people are much more social gathered at a table than machines.

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