Station lures poker players with progressive jackpots

By Liz Benston

Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2003 | 11:14 a.m.

On Monday afternoon at Texas Station casino hotel, four poker tables were bustling when a normal day might have kept just one or two busy.

At one table, local resident Cathy Sloan and her fellow players didn't miss a beat as they stacked their chips. Sloan's husband, John, played at a nearby table.

"This is the closest casino where there's poker," said Sloan, 67. "It's hard to find nowadays -- everybody's closing up poker rooms right and left."

Sloan, a regular poker player, would have gambled that day regardless of the fact that it marked the opening day for a new poker game at Texas Station.

Still, Station Casinos Inc.'s "Jumbo Hold 'Em Poker Progressive" had her blessing.

"It's a great way to win some money," she said. "And it doesn't cost much."

The poker progressive game follows the same logic as a game released in June 2000 called "Jumbo Bingo Progressive."

Station Casinos has credited Jumbo Bingo with improving its bottom line and boosting interest in what has historically been written off as a low-stakes, ho-hum social gathering for seniors.

"It has revitalized a game that was probably seeing some downturns in revenue," Station Casinos spokeswoman Lesley Pittman said.

"We're seeing a younger group of players and added excitement around the game."

Station Casinos hopes to similarly recharge poker, another game that has largely remained untouched for decades.

Unlike Strip casinos, which now generate about half their revenue from higher-priced shows, shopping and dining, about 70 percent of revenue at Station Casinos comes from slots.

Only half of the company's eight major neighborhood casinos have poker rooms.

But poker is still an important part of the casino experience, said Mike Doe, poker room manager at Texas Station.

"To be a full service casino you need a poker room," Doe said. "A guy can leave the sports book and go play poker. He can play poker while his wife plays the slots or bingo."

The bingo version works like progressive slot machines that collect bets into a single jackpot that grows as more bets are made.

In Jumbo Bingo, a certain percentage of sales fund a daily jackpot that is drawn every other hour. The poker game, like the bingo version, follows the same rules as a traditional game of "hold 'em" poker but also collects a percentage of each wager into a separate jackpot. Both games have jackpots that start at $100,000.

"$100,000 alters people's lives. We try to find a figure that impresses people," said Weldon Russell, corporate director of bingo, keno and poker at Station Casinos.

Last month, Station Casinos' Jumbo Bingo jackpot grew to $291,950 -- the highest-ever bingo jackpot won at the company. On average, the company's past 20 winners have won about $159,000.

Last March, the company launched a second bingo progressive game by linking its two Fiesta casinos. "The Grande" features a jackpot that starts at $25,000.

The company considered linking both its Station and Fiesta brand casinos together but decided the Fiesta properties could do better on their own with fewer players vying for a smaller jackpot, Russell said.

Station Casinos' casino profit margin for the nine months ended Sept. 30 increased 3.6 percent compared to the same period a year earlier despite a 3.5 percent decline in casino revenue, according to the company's most recent audited financial statement.

The company boosted profits "by taking advantage of our size and scale and due to aggressive cost containment efforts throughout all areas of the casino," particularly marketing through the use of technology with products like the company's "Boarding Pass" slot club loyalty card and Jumbo Bingo, the company said.

Progressive games have been a hit for slot machine makers such as International Game Technology and Alliance Gaming Corp. because they give players a shot at a larger-than-normal jackpot, companies say. IGT's "MegaJackpots" line of slot machines collect millions of dollars, fueling greater volume play during peak jackpot periods similar to the cyclical play of state lotteries.

Both the bingo and poker progressives attract players by collecting jackpots for games that don't normally offer them, Station managers say. Big jackpots can lure the occasional gambler as well as people who don't ordinarily play either game.

That's also the idea behind a recent keno game called "Nevada Numbers." The game, offered by Las Vegas Gaming Inc., involves a single random number drawing at Bally's Las Vegas that is broadcast to more than 30 casinos statewide. A percentage of players' bets collects in a jackpot that grows as more bets are made. The popularity of the game -- driven in part by a look similar to other states' popular Powerball lotteries -- has prompted Las Vegas Gaming to consider launching a statewide bingo version of the game called "Nevada Bingo." The game hasn't yet been approved by Nevada regulators.

While IGT can draw jackpots from slot machines in hundreds of casinos statewide, Station Casinos must draw its jackpots from five bingo parlors and four poker rooms. That's enough to build a decent jackpot and make a profit, managers say.

"There's power in numbers," Russell said. "Because of all of our linked properties we can afford to do it."

The vast majority of gamblers who come to play bingo are now playing for the Jumbo Bingo jackpot, Russell said.

Players who want a shot at the jackpot must play at one of Station's four bingo halls at the top of every other hour. A single random drawing of 48 numbers is simulcast between the properties. If no one wins the $100,000 jackpot the first week, 49 numbers are drawn the second week to improve the odds. One additional number is drawn in each successive week until the jackpot hits. The company says it has never drawn past 54 numbers.

To collect a jackpot for the poker progressive, 5 percent of each player's hand -- or up to $1 per hand -- is put into a separate pot. A percentage of the pot goes to fund a top jackpot of $100,000. Another cut goes to fund a jackpot that is won by players at each individual poker room. A third percentage goes to a general jackpot reserve.

Station has set a high bar for the jackpots to assure that it can afford the cost, Russell said.

To win $100,000, players must draw four fives or better. The poker hall jackpot, worth $10,000, requires three aces and a pair of sixes or better.

Unlike bingo, winners don't walk away with the entire jackpot. In keeping with the rules for "bad-beat" poker, the winner of the $100,000 jackpot gets $20,000 while the loser gets $35,000. The remainder is split evenly between all players who are gambling at the poker progressive game when the jackpot hits. All players receive a minimum of $200 no matter what their hand.

The minimum $200 payout appeals to Sloan.

"With the bad-beat, it seems you're always sitting at the wrong table. Here, everybody gets something," she said.

While the concept of getting less money for a winning hand may be foreign to most people, poker players understand the bad-beat game, Doe said.

Poker regulars have caught on to the progressive game. The next step will be drawing new players, he said.

"They dislike changes," he said of his poker customers. "But there have been no negative remarks about this. I'm surprised."