Losing at "The Track"

It has been over a year now since the two Arkansas racetracks (Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, and Southland in West Memphis) were given a chance at survival, when they received the right to host "games of skill" in what is otherwise a casino-free zone.

Right after approval, Oaklawn installed a couple hundred video poker machines and "Lock & Roll" slots (as distinguished from regular slots by the fact you have to "lock" the reels and spin for a second time before collecting your winnings).

The games are bad, particularly quarters and 50c -- the dollar games all pay a little better (e.g., 9/5 JB, 9/5 DDB), but they'll still break you in a hurry. Recently, they've added a few computerized blackjack tables (real dealers to make change, but the cards are dealt by the machines). The blackjack tables deal a decent game, presently the best games in the house -- it seems like 6 decks with about 2-3 decks cut-off, though -- for those who care about such things. At least it pays 3:2 on blackjacks, which is more than a lot of real casinos do these days.

Over the past year, Oaklawn has attracted a pretty good crowd of "regulars" -- people playing the bad video poker or the even-worse "Instant Racing" machines (90-92%). But one doesn't get the sense that anyone views it as a "destination", in the sense that a casino is a destination. The fact that you see the same faces on a routine basis really makes one wonder whether the low-quality games are just a trap for locals who don't want to watch too much TV.

Reportedly, Oaklawn will be building a large, new facility at the south end of the racetrack after the upcoming live racing season ends, which will house hundreds of new game machines. When they have these new games available, and nobody to play them, will there be a new spirit of competition? Will the returns on these games be improved in order to attract customers? Does it even matter?

It amazes me that the video poker playing public chooses to ignore the returns of the games they play. You can walk in almost any casino and find players who are willing to play 6/5 Bonus or 8/5 DDB when there is 9/6 JB one machine over. It takes about 800,000 hands of 9/6 JB (25c) to pay for a video poker machine -- about 2,000 hours of play. At 8/5, the same game pays for itself in 150,000 hands, or about 400 hours of play.

Playing bad games only encourages the proliferation of bad games. We should all stop it.