Over the past five years, casino executives have been asking me what the next big thing can be for casinos (land-based ones). Obviously, in states with large populations, an online offert, which could only be offered by land-based casinos, would be an additional line of revenue, cost, and profitability.
Unfortunately, we are still far away from moving the most populated states move forward with online legalization and regulations.
So, where does that leave us? It leaves us with the opportunity to create more gambling and entertainment revenue in the great casino facilities that the operators have already built. How do we do that? We change the offering to fit a new demographic target of the Millennials (born 1981 to 1996 -- think Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Hemsworth, and Scarlett Johansson) and Generation X (born 1965 to 1980 -- Leonardo DiCaprio, Uma Thurman, Ethan Hawke) ... are they going to play slot machines?
Nope.
We have to keep in mind that the 161 million US citizens in those two generations do love to go to casinos, they do spend money, they have smartphones and tablets, and most importantly, they love to play games ... although casual games on their phone. In fact, Flurry Analytics (a company of analysis, monetization and marketing founded in 2005) estimates that the largest percent of time spent on mobile devices is playing games (32%).
Fortunately, there are a few companies out there ready to help casino operators create gamblers out of those 161 million people.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Gamblit Gaming at G2E, and I think they may be on the right track by "gamblifying" casual games. That's great, but alone it won't suffice to create "new" players from the new target market, so what should operators do?
1. Ask the Customers ... the Ones You Don't Have
Nothing works better than asking people what they want, and then giving it to them. So, bring in your best customers not your best slot, table, or poker customers but your best bar and club customers, or pay to get access to the Generation-X and the Millennials, and ask them.
2. Experiment
I have always recommended experimentation, always within the rules and regulations. Over the past two years, however, I have found that regulatory bodies are also willing to work with operators to move experiments forward. So, take a small part of your floor, plan well, fund with a marketing budget, and really experiment.
3. Change the Game
If you think providing a popular slot game on a mobile tablet or surface table will bring the Generation X or Millennials in, you'd be mistaken. You may increase total coin-in per visit of existing players ... which is great, but a Generation X integrant or Millennial will not all of a sudden want to play a slot game just because it is on a tablet.
So, this means that you need to bring in a new kind of game; one that looks like the game they spend 32% of their time playing now. The company Gamblit is working with casual game studios to do just that.
In my opinion and experience, the fastest way to create "new target market" gambling customers is to take the three steps above, lather, rinse and repeat, and do so on mobile phone, tablet and mobile-standard surface tables that they are comfortable using.
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