Survey of Table Games: Caesars Entertainment Corporation

According to this Wikipedia article , Caesars Entertainment Corporation (CEC), formerly known as Harrah's Entertainment, is the largest gaming company in the world, with over 50 casinos. The business model for CEC has long been to target the middle of the gaming segment. About 10 years ago, CEC created the model of offering a wide selection of proprietary games, giving up the premium player who insists on only the pure traditional games. In time, most casinos have followed the CEC model, leading to an explosion of proprietary games nationally and worldwide.

CEC makes a considerable amount of their internal information public. They pioneered giving full information for their "Total Rewards" system. They found that players appreciate their transparency and play more because of it, even if CEC is significantly more stingy than its direct competitors. Players like knowing exactly how much play is needed to earn certain comps. This model of openness has had widespread impact on the casino industry. Now most casinos make information available on the way comps are awarded and the levels of play necessary for tier benefits.

One of the most impressive documents that CEC used to make public was their profile of the American gambler. Here is the document from_2006. This document gave a wide variety of demographic information that could immediately be applied as a marketing tool. I have waited for years for an update to this document, but none has come. I can only assume that they felt that this was giving away too much.

A relatively recent addition to CEC’s model of open public data is a full accounting of their table games. The results presented in this post were obtained by reference to their “Table Game Finder." In all, table games data for 35 casinos was available through this link.  The data posted does not include side bets for blackjack (except for 21+3). Also, this data is not necessarily up-to-date and is not guaranteed accurate. But CEC has to be appreciated for their effort.

Here is the spread sheet containing the full data:

Harrahs_Table_Games_Full_PX (Excel 2007)

To begin with, here are some baseline statistics:

• The average number of proprietary games per CEC casino is 7.97.
• The average number of proprietary games per CEC casino in Atlantic City is 13.00.
• The average number of proprietary games per CEC casino in Las Vegas is 7.89.

Here are the CEC casinos with 11 or more different proprietary games:

1. Bally’s, Atlantic City (15)
2. Harrah’s Resort, Atlantic City (13)
3. Caesars, Atlantic City (13)
4. Paris, Las Vegas (13)
5. Horseshoe, Hammond (12)
6. Showboat, Atlantic City (11)
7. Caesars, Indiana (11)
8. Harrah's, St. Louis (11)

Here are the top five proprietary games in terms of the total number of CEC casinos. Note that these are all poker variants:

1. Three Card Poker (35)
2. Fortune Pai Gow Poker (31)
3. Let it Ride (31)
4. Mississippi Stud (25)
5. Ultimate Texas Hold’em (19)

Here is the list of all blackjack variants. Each is vulnerable to card counting:

1. Spanish 21 (9)
2. Blackjack Switch (4)
3. Double Attack Blackjack (4)
4. Power Blackjack (1)
5. Triple Attack Blackjack (1)

Here are all the Pai Gow Poker variants.  These are distinguished by the associated side bet.

1. Fortune Pai Gow Poker (31)
2. Pai Gow Poker Emperor’s Challenge(2)
3. Pai Gow Poker (2)
4. Pai Gow Mania (1)
5. Mini Pai Gow Poker (1)

There is one baccarat variant: EZ Baccarat is currently offered in 8 CEC casinos. Here are the games whose vulnerability to hole-carding is addressed in this blog:

1. Three Card Poker (35)
2. Let it Ride (31)
3. Mississippi Stud (25)
4. Four Card Poker (14)
5. Crazy 4 Poker (9)
6. Flop Poker (5)

There are also some rare games not mentioned above. Among these are:

• Craps No More (8)
• Asia Poker (6)
• Play Four Poker (1)
• Texas Shoot Out (1)

Most games offered by CEC are licensed by Shuffle Master. Here are the games with 2 or more tables, by number of tables, which are licensed by companies other than Shuffle Master.

1. Spanish 21 – Masque Publishing (9)
2. EZ Baccarat – DEQ (8)
3. Flop Poker – National Table Games (5)
4. Double Attack Blackjack – Xcite Gaming (4)
5. Pai Gow Poker, Emperor’s Challenge – Galaxy Gaming (2)