From humans to robots
The Golden Gate Hotel and Casino, the oldest hotel in downtown Las Vegas, is doing away with live dealer table games. Completely.
First reported by Casino.org’s Vital Vegas blog, the change will happen quickly, with “high energy” electronic gaming machines, including computerized versions of traditional table games, expected to replace the manned versions within the next few weeks.
Golden Gate owner Derek Stevens said that table games staff will be offered positions at his and his brother Greg’s other Las Vegas casinos, including Circa and The D. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, 15 dice dealers were already offered new jobs, but Stevens had to let everyone know what was happening before he wanted to because Vital Vegas already broke the news.
Stevens told the Review-Journal that the high-limit slot rooms at other Las Vegas casinos were a catalyst for the surprising move.
“What we’re seeing is that more and more younger people want to play these (electronic games),” he said, adding that it’s an attempt to try to “get ahead of the curve.” In fact, Stevens believes that all casinos will eventually move to mostly electronic games and that table games with human dealers will become more of a boutique offering.
He stressed that nobody is expected to lose employment with the change, just have it shifted to a different downtown Las Vegas casino.
Shaving costs
While Stevens was sure to emphasize the “high-energy, high-impact, fun environment” that electronic games can create, the reason for the shift is certainly cost-cutting.
Every table game requires at least one dealer, and some, like craps, require multiple. Tables with no activity require staffing in case customers sit down. All those employees, obviously, need to be paid. The pits also staff supervisors and require extra security. Then there is the cost of cards, dice, chips, and more.
Electronic games have their own expenses, like electricity and maintenance, but are less costly in the long run and will generally be more reliable. And post-COVID pandemic, there has been a societal shift, especially among younger people, toward doing things without human interaction. Whether it’s that we have gotten more used to solely interacting with computers or that we have become less comfortable dealing (no pun intended) with people, going to a casino and playing at an electronic craps table just isn’t as weird for many as it might have been a decade ago.
Derek Stevens expects table games to be gone from Golden Gate by mid-September.
Image credit: Flickr.com / Michael Beaton
