Examining the Link Between Poker Room Business Volume and Gaming Activity in Slot and Table Games: A Closer Look at a Key Assumption in the Full Service Theory

Results from three different Nevada hotel-casinos failed to support the popular notion that poker rooms drive business to the slot and table game areas of the casino floor. This result not only questions the validity of a key and somewhat bold operating assumption, it casts a shadow of doubt on the broader Full Service Theory, as applied to the casino floor. Additionally, this work extends Ollstein (2006) by empirically examining the relationships between the daily business volumes of poker rooms and both critical gaming centers (i.e., slots and table games). Five of six key results question the wisdom of offering live poker, based on the assumption of indirect revenue contribution to slots and table games. Double-log time series models are advanced to analyze the daily operating results of three casinos over a seven-month period, offering a rare and insightful look at actual casino performance data