Poker gaming tables can be found virtually anywhere in the US West Coast, largely due to the recent boom in Californian poker rooms. The East Coast casinos are slowly getting in on the act and opening more gaming tables too.
The latest big opening was the World Poker Tour room at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut, which was officially opened as a part of the WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic. The room has been a big hit with poker fans, with the number of gaming tables increased from less than seventy to well over 110 gaming tables, making it the largest casino in the world. Industry insiders have predicted that Foxwoods has set the ball in motion for a great increase in gaming tables across the Eastern states.
Another option to find gaming tables in the East of the country is, of course, Atlantic City, the “Las Vegas of the East”, which has a long reputation as a great destination for poker gaming tables. Hard Rock International, the parent company behind the well-known chain of bars, hotels and casinos, is now looking at pushing into the New Jersey market and developing their own gaming tables casino there.
When the Hard Rock Casino and Hotel goes up in Atlantic City, it will be the thirteenth casino to be opened in the lucrative market. According to company officials, they are looking at a possible property location with plans to invest $1 billion in development of the facility.
Many industry experts predict that the opening of a Hard Rock Casino and Hotel at the south end of the Atlantic City casino district could give New Jersey’s gaming tables a boost similar to that experienced after the Borgata casino opened more than ten years ago. Gaming tables and slots pulled in a massive $5 billion last year in revenues for Atlantic City’s casinos, making it a promising market to move into.
While Atlantic City’s gaming tables are booming, North Carolina’s gambling laws do not allow for live gaming tables, with the only possibility for gamblers being the Harrah’s Cherokee tribal casino near Charlotte, run by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. In the place of live gaming tables, the casino bases its operations on video machines and slots, however the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians have shown significant interest in expanding their facilities to feature live gaming tables as well.
Unfortunately for gaming fans, talks between the Governor of North Carolina and the tribe have stalled, with the two parties unable to come to any agreement regarding the breakdown of revenues from the proposed facilities. Plans were to have included increasing the size of the casino facilities, increasing employment with over 400 new jobs created and extra tax revenue for the state. However, after a year of negotiations, which have now failed, the future of live gaming in the state does not look to be immediately promising.
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