Here’s what I have after my interview with Joe Giaimo. I had to do a phoner, so I missed getting to walk around the tables and get eyeball details:
Ten-dollar blackjack players have their wish: The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino promises to have low-limit tables all the time.
Blackjack arrived at the Hard Rock on June 22, 2008, with a minimum bet of $25 and 41 tables carrying $100 minimums. Had minimums been lower during the public?s opening-weeks rush, wait times for a table would have been even longer, Hard Rock officials noted at the time.
Within a couple of months, the minimums dropped to $15 and, sometimes, to $10 ? depending on crowd size. In October, the casino announced it would operate $10 tables from 7 a.m. to noon weekdays.
That changed last week, when casino officials announced there would be $10 tables round-the-clock.
The reason for the switch? Customer demand. Also, the action is a little slower this time of year, said Joe Giaimo, the Seminoles? regional vice president of table games. Las Vegas and Atlantic City, for example, have busy summers and slow winters; South Florida has the opposite, he said.
?Business has declined slightly, but not that much,? he said. The Seminoles don?t release revenue figures.
There will be at least four $10 tables in the mornings, and about 12 when all of the casino?s 64 blackjack tables are running, Giaimo said.
Having $10 tables has been the No. 1 request pertaining to blackjack, he said.
