1. £100,000 in legal and application fees to get a licence (lining the lawyers pockets) plus £10,000 every year "licence renewal"
2. Employ a "compliance officer" to check that a club runs lawfully - say £35,000 per annum
3. Have a casino grey licence holder (who may know bugger all about poker) for every hour the club is open for gaming - say £100,000 per annum
4. Security cameras, procedures etc - say £100,000 investment and £10,000 per annum to maintain.
This just screws any club owner who does not have roulette and blackjack in their card room. Personally, I believe the reasons are more sinister than the "we want poker to be safe for the public so it should be regulated by casinos" excuse. I honestly believe that the casino groups are lobbying the get all these clubs shut down for 2 reasons:
1. If people go to poker only clubs they will lose revenue from their table games (ie. % disposable income on casino games decreases)
2. In the past players have started playing casino games, and then fell into poker when they have noticed the card room, now poker is getting so big that the casino groups see an opportunity to get more customers on their table games by attracting poker only players into their casinos and hoping that these players then "fall into table games" when they are in their environment. Poker can create NEW customers for the casinos on their tables.
Anyway, its all corrupt where big money is involved I'm afraid. There have been many times in my business career when I have seen bribery and corruption in places that it should not be expected exist. However, my club just has to be done by the rule book or I leave myself and everyone involved exposed to these forces that we cannot see, but do exist.
This is my view how the poker economy should work:
1. People starting playing poker lose money to experienced players for the first few years, therefore ensuring that people can make a living as a professional poker player, ONLINE or LIVE.
2. As these beginners improve, they then win money from the new set of beginners, becoming proftable players, and so on and so on.
3. Companies (TV businesses, Poker related businesses, advertisers) who want publicity from Poker to increase their profits should add money to tournament prize pools or subsidise the costs of holding the tournamant, therefore giving players more value. As you become better your entry fee gives you even more value as well.
4. Card Rooms and Online sites are a FACILITY for this process to happen, and should be allowed to make profits to maintain their facility and quality of service, and a modest profit, say 10% per annum, for the owners, who have invested / risked they capital in the company.
5. Payout stuctures should be revised for tournmamants to prevent too many people going broke and keep the money in the poker economy and prevent too much money going out of it (ie. one person willing £250,000 - he or she may never put this back into the community).
6. Poker staff should be able to get tips and earn wages comesurate with their responsibilies. The do a harder job than casino dealers.
In the long term, this will happen, as market forces always reach equilibrium. however, until then we have:
1. Companies ripping off players for the dream of being on TV
2. Casinos pretending they are poker friendly to get you to lose your shirt on their table games.
3. Money going out of the game due to top heavy structures.
4. The Gaming Commison (without knowing it) acting as secret police for the big greedy casino groups.
5. Genuine poker lovers unable to afford to run their card rooms (even just for friends) under current legislation.
6. Card Room staff being treated the same as Casino staff.
Cheers, Rob "Conspiracy Theory" Yong
