South Floridians are among the nation’s most impulsive, impatient people, whose frustrations include crowded highways and the cacophony of multiple languages in malls and restaurants.
That impatience shows up in casino card rooms. The region is likely the high hand poker capital of the world, with rooms often awarding $500 for the player who has the best hand during a 30-minute period – overall skills be damned. That $500 can be a big jackpot for, say, a retiree who sat down with 60 bucks at a $2 limit game.
Card room managers know that customers prefer regular promotions, something true of other aspects of the casino business. Meeting expectations for consistency has propelled underdog Mardi Gras Casino past $600,000 for its monthly revenues; figures released Monday by the state of Florida show the Hallandale Beach card room collected $629,185 in March.
For the past 18 months, Mardi Gras has offered a minimum of $500 per half hour, starting at noon, seven days per week, for the high hand. That consistency has produced lots of regulars at a casino that is trying to ditch its state-required obligation to the dying sport of dog racing. Mardi Gras is also challenged because it is locked in by nearby competitors to the north, south, and west. (The Atlantic Ocean is to the east.)
“I think over time, as people say ‘Where am I going to play?’ they say ‘I’ll go to Mardi Gras, I’ll know there’s something good,’” said David Litvin, director of poker operations.
“On any given day, some other South Florida card room will have a better high hand promotion, but people don’t want to work that hard.” The two largest card rooms in Florida, the Isle Casino in Pompano Beach and the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, sometimes have $1,000 high hands, but they are only on selected days. Mardi Gras is consistent.
South Florida’s poker rooms are in a war for customers. Miami-Dade County has four casinos with poker and Broward County (Fort Lauderdale) has six. To attract patrons, card rooms feel that they have to offer those high hand promotions – even if some card room managers derisively call the tactic “renting players.”
“That’s OK because everything evolves,” Litvin said. “Poker has evolved. Some people come in to play poker, others come in to chase the high hand. But most people are playing for both.
“I mean to a purist they may not like it, but it’s fun,” he said. “Playing for $500 can make it a huge day.”
The Isle Casino in Pompano Beach, near the border of casino-free Palm Beach County, led South Florida, as usual, with $1,181,831 in poker revenues for March. Following were Magic City Casino ($715,961), Hialeah Park ($710,468), Mardi Gras ($629,185), Gulfstream Park ($437,891), the Casino @ Dania ($106,194) and Casino Miami ($38,187). Poker rooms operated by the Seminole and Miccosukee tribes aren’t on the state’s list because they don’t have to reveal their revenues.
