Caesars Entertainment have followed the recent industry standard by removing all cash from their live cash game action throughout their entire enterprise.
From dipping into a plastic bag full of pennies, in games of Crash with your Grandmother, to sitting behind a wad of $100 bills in a Las Vegas cash game, there’s something authentic about the touch and feel of cold hard cash. It’s a shame that live casinos don’t share the same feeling of nostalgia as I.
Caesars Entertainment have decided to follow the recent industry standard, and make cash unplayable during live cash games. The news came out over the weekend, and the changes will be rolled out enterprise wide.
This means that punters heading to the World Series of Poker will not be able to use cash when playing in the live cash games in the Rio. Instead, all cash will have to be converted into chips, for it to be declared live at the table. Tournaments are unaffected as these were always played with chips.
Here is the press release in full.
Caesars Entertainment has updated its cash policy in poker room’s enterprise-wide.
Effective May 1, 2015, gaming action at individual cash-game poker tables (aka live action games) will be cashless. This means that cash will no longer play on poker tables in our gaming destinations. Poker players will be required to purchase casino chips with cash to participate in any live-action poker game. We believe this decision best aligns our guest experience to stay up to date with evolving industry standards and ensure our operations can deliver great experiences consistently. It is important to note that this new poker cash game policy has no impact on any poker tournament we offer, as those have always been run exclusively with non-value tournament poker chips.
It seems Las Vegas casinos are the pioneers behind the move. Caesars are the last big enterprise to invoke the rule after MGM Resorts, Station Casinos, Wynn and Venetian also pulled Benjamin Franklin from the felt.
I am led to believe that the majority of Caesars properties, worldwide, already operated a cashless environment, and it made sense to make the changes uniform throughout the company.
There has been some dissension from amongst the playing community, but at the end of the day, the move doesn’t change the way the game will flow. If anything it reduces the likelihood of corruption, and will put some weight on the calves of the chip runners.
