“The permanent closure of the Green Valley Ranch poker room (in Henderson) makes no sense at all.”
My days of being a cheerleader for poker are over and done. [READ MORE HERE]
Still, I can’t resist the urge to share something I observed this past weekend.
While visiting the Green Valley Ranch Casino, I walked by what used to be their poker room. Here’s a photo I took in the mid-afternoon. [See photo above]
A little background: Due to the COVID shutdown statewide, Green Valley Ranch’s poker room closed sometime in the Spring of 2020. Prior to closure, the poker room appeared to be successful. It’s been around for several years, and usually had multiple games going. Former staff and regular players can correct me if I’m wrong, but the poker room bucked recent trends here in Las Vegas of poker rooms struggling and the game’s popularity diminishing. If anything, Green Valley Ranch was an exception.
Now, to the present: Well, this occasion was the umpteenth time I’ve walked by the former poker room in the past several months. And, each time I’ve passed by, there’s almost no one in there. Not–during the day. Not–at night. A ghost town. It seems like wasted space. Sure, an extra room with more slot machines and video poker doesn’t take much to staff, and poker certainly requires higher expenses to run.
However, most knowledgable casino people understand the obvious ancillary benefits and financial upside to having 20-100 additional gamblers on property (on average 24/7), which undoubtedly adds to increases in other gambling revenues, more business at restaurants, and the innumerable number of friends and family poker players bring into the casino.
I don’t get this. Just take a look at the photo again–it’s pathetic. Someone, please explain it to me. Things are supposed to be somewhat normal again. This closure (apparently permanent) makes no sense at all.
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