[allbad]

I think it would be in PokerTek's best interest to give these things away in some venues. Let's look at the numbers:

The lifespan on computer equipment like this can be expected to be at least 2 years with *some* maintenance involved. Lets say it costs $30,000 to build one ($5K for a nice table, $15K for screens and processing unit, $10K 2 years maintenance fixing screens & cosmetics).

Lets also say a poker table in the corner of a bar gets patrons playing an average of 7 hours/day. If we see 45 hand/hour with an average rake of $1/hand at low limit, that's about an average of $315/day which is around $100K/year (after subtracting the cost of hardware + maintenance).

Every one of these machines is an ATM for PokerTek and the bar (who should be negotiating another $1-2/hand + all the extra patrons)

The obvious question of "what about the development and marketing costs involved?" With each new unit sold the per unit cost of this goes down. If they get one of these machines in every little corner of the country, that's a lot of machines.

You know... up until I wrote this post I hated these tables with a passion. Now, I might look into selling these things.