Pool rooms and clubs are sprouting up all over

Rough Notes, Mar 1995 by O Hare, Edward

What do Shakespeare, Louis XV, Marie Antoinette and George Washington have in common? They loved to shoot pool. Some cue tips:

-- The Bard could bank a shot with the best of them--and he worked pool into his plays.

-- Louis XIV fashioned himself as the Minnesota Fats of his time, challenging anyone in the realm to play and beat him.

-- Marie Antoinette passed up a "last meal" and banged the balls around while waiting to be arrested by her countrymen in the French Revolution.

-- George Washington made sure he could cue up at anytime by putting a pool room in the White House.

Talk about a fabulous foursome! Wouldn't Caesars Palace love to have them in a winner-take-all match?

Through the years, pool, or billiards, if you prefer, has attracted an assortment of colorful characters. And the game has been celebrated in such memorable movies as "The Hustler" and 'The Color of Money," the latter credited with helping to revive pool's popularity in the 1980s and turn it into a mainstream sport.

But pool's enduring appeal has a simple explanation--it's a game anyone can play and have fun doing it. And that appeal is bigger today than ever before.

According to the Billiard Congress of America, more than 40.3 million Americans played pool at least once during 1993--with 10% of them playing at least once a week. The year also saw 6.1 million new players, a 31% increase over 1992. And more and more women are playing the game.

Today, pool ranks third in popularity, behind bowling and basketball. With nearly one-half of all players in the 18-34 year old group, that popularity is bound to grow even bigger.

To ride this wave of popularity, new pool rooms and clubs are sprouting up all across the country. And they're a far cry from the dimly-lit, smoke-filled room in "The Hustler," where Minnesota Fats and Fast Eddie Felson staged their dramatic, high-stakes shootout. The new rooms and clubs mirror pool's new wholesome, fun-to-do image: they're bright, airy, and richly-decorated places where service and ambience count as much as the tables and cue sticks.

"We spend a lot of money to create atmosphere and ambience," says Howard Shoer of Boston Billiard Club, which operates clubs in Boston, Worcester and West Springfield in Massachusetts; Warwick, Rhode Island, and Danbury, Connecticut.

Catering to young adults but welcoming all over-21-ers, the clubs serve food and drinks right at the tables. "It's a great night out for dates and groups; they get a chance to shoot some pool and shoot the breeze at the same time," says Shoer.

Corporations also are big customers, seeing the clubs as ideal places to hold parties. "Unlike physical sports, pool is a game anyone can play and it's safe," says Shoer. "There's lots of good-natured competition. The people in marketing challenge the people in personnel. The guy in the mail room goes one-on-one with the CEO."

For agents and brokers willing to give it a shot, new pool rooms, many family-oriented, and clubs could provide a lucrative specialty niche, according to Alan Shactman of Hastings-Tapley Insurance Agency, Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which handles the insurance for Boston Billiard Club's five sites.

"The loss ratio has been good and the business has been profitable," says Shactman--adding that an agent's knowledge of the risks peculiar to pool clubs can be the biggest boost to the bottom line.

Offering ways to reduce both the risks and the cost of coverage, Shactman zeroed in on such opportunities involving liquor liability. "Sell the client on the value of establishing the TIPS program that trains bartenders and servers to recognize the signs of intoxication in customers and to handle the situation," advises Shactman.

That will attack a major cause of claims--accidents and assaults involving drinking customers--and will result in a significant reduction in the rate. But it goes far beyond that. It will resonate in the right places--demonstrating emphatically that the club owner will be a proactive partner with the agent and the insurer in helping to prevent losses. And that will mean preferred treatment from the insurer concerning other coverages and the handling of claims.

Shactman cautions that pool is a cash business, so the clubs are tempting targets for burglars. And that means more selling for the agent. This time it's convincing the club owner to install a sophisticated alarm system--again offering the carrot of a lower premium for the coverage. At the same time, the agent must make sure that the money coverage is adequate to cover any loss.

Shactman says agents and brokers should also encourage the club's staff to bond with the customers. "If people feel good about being in a place and are treated well, that will reflect on the claims experience," says Shactman.

Floods and plate glass

Ken Johnson of ISU Insurance in San Francisco stresses the importance of amending the standard commercial insurance policy to adequately cover certain risks--flooding, for one.

"Many of these clubs are housed in ground-level structures making them susceptible to flood damage in heavy storms," says Johnson. "The extensive and costly carpeting could be a major loss so you want to be sure there is adequate coverage. And that coverage should pay for moving the pool tables out of the building, if necessary, while new carpeting is being installed. And don't forget damage that can be done to the felt tops of the pool tables from sprinklers that might leak."