The State of Cash Poker in the US in 2025

Poker Pilgrims has been tracking cash poker activity in the US for over seven years now. A quick visit to our cash poker tables page will allow you to see how many poker tables you’re likely to find running at your favorite poker room on a Saturday night. Or, alternately, you can see which Vegas poker room runs the most Omaha tables on a Thursday when planning your upcoming trip to Nevada.

Every once in a while we like to take a look at all that beautiful data (yes, we are data scientists after all), and see what stories they tell us. This year, we see three major trends.

Cash Poker Activity Remains Strong Across the US

Our top-line finding is that cash poker remains a popular pursuit in our country. In any given week, you will find over 10,000 cash poker tables dealing out games from $1/$2 no limit to $100/$300 stud (across the 7 days). On a Saturday night alone, there are an average of 2,133 poker tables running across the country (in rooms that report to Bravo or PokerAtlas). This is slightly up from 2023, when an average of 2,080 poker tables were active on the average Saturday night.

As an aside, this cash growth has been accompanied by healthy growth in tournament poker as well. In 2023, 66% of poker rooms in the US were holding poker tournaments. This year that proportion is up to 76%. So cash poker activity is holding strong in the face of a notable increase in tournament poker activity.

Poker Rooms Continue to Open at a Steady Pace

Supporting the strength of cash (and tournament) poker in the US is the constant addition of poker rooms over time. While poker room closures (such as the shut down of the Mirage in 2020) make the headlines, the sound of new room openings is often quieter. No fewer than four poker rooms have opened in the state of Virginia over the past two years. And three have opened in New Hampshire this year alone!

As more states legalize gambling, more casinos will continue to open. And many of those casinos will have poker rooms. The future of poker looks pretty rosy from where we sit.

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Cash Poker Activity Varies by Region

Each of the regions we track in the US has its own distinct flavor when it comes to cash poker; and over time, we see varying trends among those regions. We have seen strong growth in cash play in the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and Texas over the past two years. Other regions, such as Florida, Nevada, and New England, are seeing activity fairly consistent with that of two years ago. Michigan, meanwhile, has seen decreases in the number of cash tables, both overall and on a Saturday night. In California, however, the same number of poker tables are active on a Saturday night, but hundreds fewer tables are being played across the week as a whole. Again, you can check out our cash poker activity page to see what is happening in your region.

Conclusion

We end this post as we started it: assuring you that live cash poker remains strong across the US. There is exciting growth across the country in the number of poker rooms opening, the number of tables running, and the number of people sitting down to play poker on a Saturday night.

Where are the hot spots? Which casinos feature the most cash poker tables of all? Well, you’ll have to wait for our next post: The Top 5 Cash Poker Venues in 2025.

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