Seen the same shit for years at Harry P. Cues in Lynnwood, WA. 15 to 20 guys would spend all day sitting in chairs around the pool tables, BS with each other, all while waiting on Harry to come in so they could try and get a game with him. The minute he'd call someone there to let them know he wasn't coming in, within 5 minutes everyone was gone, just to come back the next day and repeat the process, day after day!
Finally after a few years, Harry P. Cues was shut down, and Billy Tacket, one of the principles told me why. In the previous month they pulled in $80,000, and asked if I thought that was pretty good for a month, I said I don't know, why? He told me they SPENT $85,000 in overhead in that same month, and the weakest area of income was the room the 13 9fts were in, because of the lack of food and alcohol sales!!! It WASN'T supporting the square footage it occupied!!!
So yeah, rail birds spend money, if you make playing pool basically free, keep the heat on so they stay warm in the winter months, and keep the air conditioning on in the summer so they don't get to uncomfortable sitting in their chairs while waiting on action to walk through the door! Rail birds are bums, they're no good for a business trying to pay the bills!!!
