Why some Casinos don’t offer Lower Stakes?

The majority of gamblers out there are not high rollers and don’t have tons of money to spend in casinos. Nevertheless, many low stakes gamblers find themselves in the uncomfortable position of having to play at limits outside of their bankroll because some casinos don’t offer enough tables at lower limits. And this definitely begs the question of why these casinos aren’t offering more tables with lower stakes. Well as you’ll find out, a lot of this just has to do with the business side of gambling and there are some things you can do to avoid being forced to play at higher limits.

If you visit a major gambling destination like Las Vegas, you’re guaranteed to find plenty of lower stakes tables. Since there are so many casinos on the Vegas Strip, these establishments have to offer something to the low stakes gamblers or they risk losing out on all the money they can make off of hotel fares, drinks, and other stuff these people spend cash on. If a Las Vegas casino doesn’t have these players covered then they’ll just walk down the street and find another casino to gamble at. 

But casinos that operate in a rural area or city which only has one or two casinos can get away with offering the minimum amount of low stakes tables. They don’t have to compete against a lot of other casinos so they can have more high stakes tables and still fill them up. And if a casino still draws lots of gamblers despite not having much in the way of low stakes then they can get away with this.

High limits mean big profit

Years of research and trial and error has gone into making casinos what they are today.  And what researchers have found is that it can be much more profitable to have half full – or near half full – high stakes tables than it is to have a lot of full lower stakes tables. Now it might seem counterproductive to think that empty tables could bring more profit in than full ones, but you’ve got to look at the situation in money and percentages.

Take the game of Blackjack, for instance, where the house holds an edge of 0.5% against those who use common strategy. Obviously there are many people who play at the Blackjack tables that don’t know common strategy so the house edge jumps out to around 3%.  Let’s say that a $10 table with seven people can only play 50 hands an hour since more people will slow the game down. To find out how much money a casino will make on a $10, seven person table we’ll take $10 X 50 (hands per hour) X 7 (people) X 0.03 (house edge).  After multiplying these four numbers together, we find out that the house will make $105 an hour with this table. 

Switching to the $25 table, it’s safe to assume this Blackjack limit could fill two seats with people who can play 85 hands an hour.  Now let’s use the same formula above and multiply $25 X 85 X 2 X 0.03 to again find out how much the casino is making.  After using this formula, we find out that the casino is making $127.50 an hour which is $22.50 more an hour than the $5 table is making. This may not sound like a whole lot, but think of how much more money the casino will make with $25 Blackjack tables over hours, weeks, days, and even years. 

How to find low stakes

You can’t change how many low limit tables and games are offered since casinos will do what they can to make more money. However, there are things you can do to improve your chance of finding open seats at low limit games. And the best option is to visit casinos during early weekday hours since these are the least crowded times of the week. As long as a casino offers low limit games, you are bound to find a seat open somewhere. The worst time for a low stakes player to visit is on Friday and Saturday nights because these are the busiest times for casinos.

Besides visiting casinos during crowded days, another thing you can do to find open low limit tables is to get good at games like video poker to pass the time while you’re waiting for a seat to open up. Even if video poker is not your game, you can find something to pass the time while keeping an eye on the table you’re hoping to play on. This is certainly a better option than playing at a limit you’re uncomfortable as this will drain your bankroll.