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Riviera Closes Poker Room

LAS VEGAS, Nevada –- The Riviera's poker room was permanently closed last week, with property executives citing the room's poor financial performance and fallout from the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings.

One of the longest-running poker rooms in Las Vegas, the Riviera's space will be remodeled, to be included in an expansion of the property's high-limit slot area.

"We weren't making money on the room," said Duane Krohn, chief financial officer for Riviera Holdings Corp., the Riviera's owner. "A lot of poker rooms are being closed because they don't make much money, and the casino space can be more effectively utilized."

The room closed Oct. 1, and the room's 20 dealers and supervisors were laid off. Krohn said the workers received one week of severance pay for each year of employment at the Riviera, and also will keep their health insurance benefit through the end of the year.

Some of the workers have already found jobs at other Las Vegas poker rooms, he added.

In the past year, poker rooms have closed at The Venetian, Harrah's and the Stratosphere, a trend casino industry observers blame on poker's inability to generate the same kind of profits earned by slot machines.

Experts also cite the dominance of the Bellagio poker room and its biggest-in-the city games. The high-rolling gamblers Strip resorts want to keep at their own table game pits aren't going to play in the low-limit poker games offered by the other Strip casinos anyway.

Las Vegas poker players have also increasingly chosen to play at off-Strip casinos, including The Orleans, Sam's Town and four Station Casinos properties

"Poker's sort of like the sports book," Krohn said. "It's an amenity more than a money maker. After Sept. 11, we're looking for any smart ways to cut expenses, and closing the room made sense."

The Riviera's poker room made money when the annual World Series of Poker was in town and when the north-Strip property hosted major billiards tournaments, Krohn said.

"The problem is, that was only two or three months of the year," Krohn said. "The rest of the year, we lost money."

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