Poker, which I have played across N.H. and even internationally, is suffering due to the regulatory burden. In N.H., poker tournaments are
forced to take 20% of buy-in money as a rake. The casinos then must give
10% of the rake to the State as a tax and 35% to charity. On top of
that, they can’t run a tournament with buy-ins over $250, allow the
total re-entries by a player to exceed $250, and must get every
tournament structure approved by the State regulators. Meanwhile, other
poker rooms can run tournaments with larger buy-ins that attract larger
crowds because of big prize pools. N.H. also lacks any transparency laws
to require public reporting of poker results, which causes serious
players to lose out on ranking and recognition for their wins in N.H.
Casinos make money off table games like roulette or blackjack because they have an edge over the player. For example, in roulette
there are 38 spots a ball can land in, the numbers 1-36, zero, and
double-zero. When a person wins, the casino pays them 35-to-1. That
means the casino has a 5.26% advantage. The more someone bets, the more
they should theoretically lose due to the house’s edge. By having bets
limited to $10 in N.H., while Encore is letting people bet as much as
$5,000 or even more in their high-limit gaming area, N.H. forces the
most profitable customers to the casino to leave the State. That means
the charities in N.H. that rely on charitable gaming get less money.
The decline in customer numbers is already evident at the cash poker tables in N.H. poker rooms. Customer volume is down in some locations
by more than 50% as the regular customers have moved their business to
the very well-appointed poker room at Encore Boston Harbor. Those
players also earn comps towards food and get beverages, alcoholic and
soft, complimentary while playing at Encore. If the customers and the
money continue to flow out of N.H., eventually some of the casinos will
have to cut back on staffing or even close down.
