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(Continued from page 38)
As trend wanes, casinos in Las Vegas and on Mississippi riverboats fold on poker rooms
• LAS VEGAS (AP) -- The Tropicana hoped to step back into the big leagues when it opened its poker room in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip, touting it as the coolest in town.
• But that same morning, federal agents shut down the three biggest online poker sites on the Internet. Last September, less than a year and a half later, the iconic casino quietly swapped out its green felt tables for slot machines.
• It's a story that's become increasingly common as the crackdown on Internet gambling weakens pokers' appeal, and the casinos that once competed to lure fans of Texas Hold 'Em abandon the waning game in favor of more lucrative alternatives.
• Poker has never been a big moneymaker like slot machines or roulette. But when the game's popularity soared during the 2000s, casinos were willing to forgo the extra dollars to get players inside their buildings.
• Now the calculus is shifting. In Sin City, epicenter of the poker craze, at least eight rooms have folded in the past two years. The trend is also playing out in Mississippi riverboats, Indian casinos and gambling halls near big cities from California to Florida
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Today in History
The Associated Press
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• Today is Thursday, Feb. 28, the 59th day of 2013. There are 306 days left in the year.
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• Today's Highlight in History:
• On Feb. 28, 1993, a gun battle erupted at a religious compound near Waco, Texas, when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents tried to arrest Branch Davidian leader David Koresh on weapons charges; four agents and six Davidians were killed as a 51-day standoff began. (The siege ended April 19 as fire erupted while federal agents smashed their way into the compound; Koresh and 78 other people were killed.)
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• On this date:
• In 1844, a 12-inch gun aboard the USS Princeton exploded as the ship was sail (Continued on page 40)
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