blackchipjim said:
As far as I'm concerned the casinos are getting what they deserve. For years these joints have slowly eroded the base of customers that kept them in the black. With the economy in turmoil and less cash available for entertainment the money houses still try to stick it to the customers. Casinos are just getting a taste of the customer's disdain for ever increasingly poor games and rules. I hope the majority of the sobs go out of business to make way for a new era of the gaming industry. blackchipjim
The reason casinos have recently fell on hard times is the current economic recession. This recession, fundamentally, was caused by expanding credit far beyond the saving in the economy, creating a situation where businesses invested in long-term investments where consumers were preferring short-term satisfaction. Such a situation is inflationary (which usually scares central banks into raising rates, which didn't happen this time) and as such, the inflation (in
this business cycle in particular) made it impossible to pay back one's subprime mortage, producing the collapse in the derivatives market which, in turn, stopped banks lending to eachother and thus produced the current credit crisis.
I agree with you that recently, casinos have been bastards towards the gamblers that patronize them. They mistreated and looked down upon their consumers. They overcharged them via high house-edges. A casino's health, ultimately, is in its players, and mistreating its players is a perfect recipie for stopping its players from playing.
However, to treat recent casino stupidity as the sole cause of current casino losses is macroeconomically unwise.
To be fair, I personally believe that the best casino policy is (note, here I am talking as an economist that wishes to make it possible for both casinos and intelligent players to coexist): 1) Very low house edges, 2) relatively generous comps, 3) some arrangement that rewards advantage players whilst allowing casinos to ultimately make a long-term profit, and 4) casinos being hubs of various different types of entertainment (bars, nightclubs, restaurants, whorehouses, stripclubs, variations on all of the above, etc).
3) is obviously the most complex point.
