Ladies Cash-In on Table Games in Offline and Online Casinos
“It’s like a drug,” said Cindy Krajewski of Sterling Heights. Cindy was one of only 4 women in a group of 66 playing in a poker tournament last week. “It gives you an adrenalin rush to sit there playing poker with all those men.”
And it’s not just the few women who are looking to make a profession out of poker who are breaking into this world; many women are finding the world of gambling ever more acceptable and exciting. One factor that led to this breakthrough is a show like ‘Celebrity Poker’. This show features both male and female stars playing alongside each other.
Another factor in women’s jump into the gambling world is the freedom women have been given over the past 30 years to start developing careers of their own. Most women today grew up in a society where having a profession was not a fight or a struggle, but rather an expectation, and these women have some grand ideas about how to put their money to interesting use.
According to “The Power of the Purse” author Fara Warner, the popularity of the online casinos has also boosted women from the slots to the tables. With internet gambling women can feel sage to learn about a game such as poker, and play it, in an environment where they are free from intimidation.
“It once used to be strange thinking of women playing pool or even golf,” Warner said. “But there is more willingness now for women to go into those spaces once reserved for men, and the male sort of accepts it. Once women are involved in it they may be good at it or they might be bad at it. But a lot of times they are just having fun.”
The Greektown Casino in Detroit Michigan has seen an unexpected boost in female poker players over the past year alone.
“They are feeling a little more comfortable even though it still feels like a men’s club over here,” said Glenn Arana, the poker manager at Greektown Casino. “You look in here and see mostly guys. Most of the men are on their best behavior, and that’s why we’re seeing and increase in women.”
There is no real way to track the growing popularity of table games among women, but it’s the casino officials themselves that are reporting the rise, and women are loudly agreeing with them.
“It’s not just fun to me,” said Tammy Vamvas of Sterling Heights. “Men don’t intimidate me. What intimidates me most is when they have $5,000 in front of them, and I’m down to $100.”
