bestbet Jacksonville, Florida’s biggest poker room with as many as 70 tables, is to start offering several new table games as of September. These will be the first changes introduced at the gambling facility since it first opened doors in 2012.
Jamie Shelton, President of bestbet, commented that more people go to the venue to play poker and fewer visit it to bet on horse and dog races, as well as jai alai that are simulcast at the Monument Road property.
As mentioned above, this is just about to change. Several new games are to be offered at the poker room and generally speaking, they will be a bit different from the Texas Hold’em, Five-Card Stud and Omaha variations played there. And with the state currently discussing the possibility to legalize slot machines, more changes may be introduced at the popular Jacksonville facility as well as other gambling properties within Florida’s borders.
The new games that are to come to the poker room as of September are Two- and Three-Card Poker, Ultimate Texas Hold’em, Pai Gow, and Casino War. Most of them are variations of poker. Casino War is a variation of the popular card game.
bestbet currently operates two poker rooms in Florida – the Jacksonville one and one in Orange Park. Here it is important to note that outside Seminole casinos, poker rooms in Florida can be featured only within pari-mutuel facilities. And a total of 23 such facilities offer poker rooms at present. It could be said that apart from being the biggest, bestbet Jacksonville is also the most profitable one.
In general, poker rooms generate revenue through the rake. And in Florida, the rake is 10% of every single pot with a $5 maximum. bestbet Jacksonville’s rake for the fiscal 2013-14 was $15.2 million, according to the information released by the state.
Mr. Shelton noted that he could not say when the new games will be brought to bestbet’s Orange Park property. He explained that they want to “see the appetite” for them. Mr. Shelton also added that the new games will most definitely attract a completely different type of player to their gambling facility.
Revenue at the state’s poker rooms has increased significantly over the past decade. While the amount of $44 million was generated back in the fiscal 2005-06, poker rooms took $136 million in 2013-14. However, gambling analysts noted that growth has slowed down over the past several years.
As for revenue from horse and dog races as well as jai alai, it has been falling for the past decade. The amount of $1.5 billion was posted for the fiscal 2005-06 and a total of $850 million was generated during the 2013-14 fiscal year.
Gambling experts suggested that the legalization of slot machines would give the state gambling industry a major boost and it seems that Florida lawmakers have been considering the opportunity for some time now.
A constitutional amendment and a local referendum approved slot machines in Broward and Dade Counties. Currently, eight gambling facilities across the two counties are featuring slots. Revenue from those ranged from $47 million to $133 million per venue or in other words three to eight times the revenue generated at bestbet Jacksonville from its 70 poker tables.
Robert Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University, who also specializes in the gaming industry, commented that Florida has three possible paths before it. In the first place, it can ban the provision of all kinds of gambling options, as it was suggested by North Florida communities. However, this is not likely to happen.
In the second place, state legislators can prevent the gambling industry from any further expansion. And last, they can acknowledge the benefits from it and permit the establishment of Las Vegas-style casinos in South Florida.
