Palms Las Vegas Closes Poker Room
Palms Las Vegas has closed its 8-table poker room, which had struggled since it moved to a new location within the casino in 2012.
The Palms poker room was opened by CG Technology, commonly referred to by its previous name, Cantor Gaming. CG Technology is the operator of the ading race and sports book. The poker room was moved to the sports book area in 2012 after years in an area now occupied by the rewards center and high limit slots.
Palms confirmed the closure with USPoker. A Palms representative told us via email, “Palms Casino Resort has discontinued poker. The former poker room is now part of the race and sports book space which is operated by CG Technology”.
“We plan to utilize the space from the poker room to cater to the growing popularity of our race and sports book offering”, said Hannah Sloane, a spokesperson at CG Technology. Like the poker room, the race and sports book was remodeled in 2012.
The poker room was a sports bettor’s dream. The tables were surrounded by the sports book. Poker players never missed a second of sports action while at the tables. Tickets could be written or cashed just a few steps away.
In January, Palms launched unprecedented poker promotions. This included dropping the rake to $1 and taking up to $4 per hand to fund promotions. That effort failed to draw sufficient action. The promotional pool was $22,000 in the negative from the generous offers, according to a former manager of the room. The promos were abandoned just weeks after being implemented.
CG Technology eventually threw in the towel on the poker room. Palms took over management of poker operations on April 1, 2014. CG Technology remained the race and sports book operator.
New management announced a $3 rake for no limit and pot limit games. These games did not qualify for any promotions as no additional drop was taken. This made Palms the best place in Nevada to play no limit or pot limit games in of rake. That was not enough to help keep the poker tables open.
This move follows poker room closures at M Resort, Riviera, El Cortez, Sunset Station and Circus Circus in the past year.