CrapsForever's Blog
Posted by CrapsForever
Apr 28, 2012
Apr 28, 2012
Dominoes in a Casino??? Am I Dreaming?
I LOVE playing Dominoes. I always wondered why Casinos never had Dominoes. It’s a very popular game especially among Caribbeans. It’s an amazing game of skill with some luck involved depending on the Dominoes you pick up. My goal has always been to convince a Casino to add Dominoes to their gaming because I think it’s a very undervalued game that could be a huge hit in a Casino. In 2006, I saw that there was a World Series of Dominoes televised on ESPN2 and hoped that this would be the beginning of the infiltration of Dominoes in the United States and that hopefully it would make its way to Casinos in the near future. However after watching that tournament, I never saw anything about Dominoes on TV again.I have been racking my brain and searching the internet trying to find a social club down here where I can play my beloved Dominoes. Last week while searching the internet, to my amazing surprise, I found a Casino (Miami Casino) that offers Dominoes. I took a trip to the Casino to check it out.
The casino charges each player $1.50/ 30 minutes to rent the table to play. The players at the table decide what type of game to play and how much to gamble on so you are playing against other players not the house similar to Texas Hold’em Poker except the House doesn’t get to take a rake of each pot. Playing Dominoes for $3/hour is definitely cheaper than any house rake I have ever seen in Poker. Players must buy chips from the Casino since you are not allowed to gamble with cash. There are 4 Domino tables now which are located in the Poker Room. This is the first time I have ever seen my beloved Dominoes offered in a Casino.
If any of you have seen the game of Dominoes at any Casino, please let me know. If you are a fan of Dominoes, tell your Casino operators to carry this game.
Dominoes for Life!!!!!
Comments
I think its probably too leisurely a game for a casino. As I recall, its more suggestive of chess on a Sunday afternoon in the park or something. Very enjoyable, very varied ... but not something people want to play for money.
I bet you could find a game played for money. Just take a trip down to Little Havana :)
Our own MathExtremist is trying to market a table game using dominoes. He showed at the recent ShuffleMaster event on May 2.
Some people still view "Las Vegas" as the ultimate goal for gamblers whereas many others are aware that all the Indian and other casinos across the nation draw a great many players away from Vegas.
So I don't know if its proper to view any casino as "training grounds" but it certainly seems to be an established trend that many Indian casinos are upgrading their offerings and making the nearby casino very attractive to those who otherwise would be Vegas bound.
Capturing a local market and perhaps sending their top players to Vegas (with detailed information as to their style of play) might be a way for casinos to market themselves.
There is no question that entire fleets of buses service the various "Chinatowns" and bring Baccarat players to Atlantic City casinos. Many buses bring Spanish speaking players just across the California border and deposit them at the now Bi-Lingual Dealer casinos there.
In the same vein, I could well see local Dominoes clubs increasing their revenue by "selling" their members to casinos, be they nearby or more distant casinos. Just as some Topless Bars in Cape Canaveral have excursion parties on the Victory Casino from time to time, some Dominoes Clubs might well have similar parties at casinos.
Dominoes may be viewed as a low revenue, high floor space and high dealer-investment game, but it appears to be a market that is totally untapped and casinos tend to want to experiment with tapping new markets some times.
So who knows.... maybe you should start your own Dominoes Club and let it prosper. Good luck.