Poker in the Caribbean: Could the World’s Favorite Card Game Boost the Caribbean Tourism and Tech Industries?

by Adrian Gulliver

The Caribbean is renowned for its stunning landscape, and its booming hospitality industry. Travelers from all over the world flock to this corner of the world to explore its marvellous islands and get a taste of its unique culture and cuisine. Yet tourism is not the only industry that the Caribbean is taking the lead in: innovation and tech are on the rise in the region – and are often used to boost the hospitality sector even further. In recent years, poker has claimed a lot of spotlight across the Caribbean, with popular poker tournaments taking place and renowned casinos hosting many customers across the area’s most beloved islands. A perfect blend of the luxury that the Caribbean is world-famous for and cutting-edge technology used by casino software developers, could poker become one of the area’s strong suits?

The Bahamas: A Booming Casino Hub?

The Bahamas stands apart across the Caribbean as a top poker and gambling destination. That is hardly a surprise, since it is home to several luxury resorts and hotels – and a taste of casino life is just a bonus for many of their clients. According to the Government of the Bahamas, gaming has made a positive contribution to the local economy, adding jobs to the market, bringing in further investments and growth, as well as yielding high figures in incoming foreign exchange and taxes. Three casinos are central to the region, with the Atlantis Paradise Resort and Casino leading the industry. Located on Paradise Island, it is run by hospitality firm Sun International Hotels Ltd. and spans across 2,300 rooms. The highlights of this resort range from fine dining and spa treatments to a stunning marine habitat – and, of course, its renowned casino.

The Atlantis Paradise Casino is perhaps most famous for being the location where the annual televised PCA poker tournament takes place. This competition that draws in the game’s best players from all over the world has been going steady since 2004 and has really helped into putting Paradise Island on the map when it comes to poker. In 2019, the PCA took place during January 5-16, with the Main Event spanning from January 6^th to 10^th at an impressive $25,000 buy-in. With a roster of famous poker players competing for the coveted title and a whopping $9 million in the combined prize pool up for grabs, Los Angeles star poker player Chino Rheem took home the Main Event title and the accompanying money prize of over $1.5 million. Poker tournaments across the Caribbean are very popular as they are often the perfect excuse to combine partying and gaming, with spectacular events organized for the duration of the competitions for players, their guests, and the audience.

The Wyndham Nassau Resort Casino is also a top spot for poker enthusiasts that visit the Bahamas. Located on the Cable Beach Strip on New Providence Island, the resort boasts a total of 865 rooms and an impressive 30,000-square-foot casino. It stands out among poker players and casino regulars due to its unique combination of gambling and entertainment, and its spectacular ocean view. There is a bar that is situated right above the casino, where customers will often take a break from playing poker and go for a quick drink, all the while overlooking the casino tables. Rebranded a couple of years ago as the Baha Mar casino, it is not reserved to poker – visitors can also enjoy a game of blackjack or roulette across over 100 tables, as well as slot machines.

Cutting-Edge Tech for the Poker Industry

Hotels are not the only industry benefiting from the surge in poker playing across the islands. The Gaming Board of the Bahamas, which regulates gambling in the region, has licensed over 20 casino software developers and suppliers to operate in the Bahamas – a figure which keeps going up in recent years. These include industry leaders, like Aristocrat Technologies Inc. which is licensed to provide gaming solutions in roughly 240 jurisdictions across 90 countries, or Interblock, with activities that span across 166 countries, from casinos to arcades. Players that aim at more niche markets are also on the list, like Spin Games or Konami. Spin Games is active in the field of differentiated gaming content, focusing on employing smart solutions across different platform, which includes a patent for multiplayer interactive gaming. Japanese company Konami hails from a long tradition in entertainment that traces back to the 1970s and has produced several games to date, with a focus on online slot games.

Cards, Poker Chips and Dice

Drawing foreign software suppliers in is one way to create growth, and the contribution of entertainment to the tourism industry has really helped the economy in terms of performance. While in 2014, the Bahamas’ GDP was $10.96 billion, in just 3 years it grew to $12.16 billion. The same figure rose to almost $13 in 2018, while it is projected to reach almost $15 billion by 2022. And it is not only the Bahamas: Aruba has been vying to establish itself as a tech and innovation hub in the past couple of years, in an effort to attract software developers and IT professionals. To that end, it has been hosting the yearly ATECH conference, which has generated a lot of hype among entrepreneurs, tech professionals and marketing leaders. The demand for poker and related casino software development could help further lift the region’s status as a tech and innovation melting pot.

The Caribbean’s Long History with Poker

Poker is no stranger to the Caribbean region. In fact, the area has given its name to a very popular variant of the game: Caribbean stud poker. This version builds on the widely beloved 7-card-stud poker, which is featured on every poker strategy guide . In 7-card-stud, each player is dealt their own range of up to seven cards, but still relies on their best five-card hand to form the winning combination. The game does not start with any blinds, but players have to pay an ante every time they start a new hand. It also includes a forced bet that is known as a “bring-in”, paid by the player who holds the worst upcard at the start of each hand.

After paying an ante, each player receives two cards face-down and one upcard. The game consists of another four different betting rounds, where players are dealt four more cards – the first three face-up and the last one face-down. At the showdown, the best five-card hand wins, with Royal Flush being the best hand – the rankings are the same as in perhaps the most widely known poker version, Texas Hold’ em. Caribbean stud poker is a variant of that game, very popular across casinos all across the globe. The main difference is that only five cards are dealt and that players do not play against each other, but against the dealer, as is the rule in casinos – just like with blackjack. The variant first gained wider popularity after being introduced at the King International Casino in Aruba – and the rest is poker history.

With a strong hospitality tradition that focuses on luxury and a history that is infused with its own poker variant, could poker and the cutting-edge tech development it brings with it breathe fresh air for the Caribbean?