Step 3 : Bringing Back ( and Adding New ) Fun
This section presents an array of ideas and programs that have the potential to achieve the “ Bring Back the Fun !” goal .
First , an introduction to value . A fun experience must ultimately be translated into some sense of value received for a player to conclude at the end of a casino visit that they enjoyed the trip , want to return , and will speak highly of the experience to others . The value of a casino visit to a player is typically evaluated in terms of both time spent value ( time value ), from a finite amount of personally available free time ; and dollar spent value ( dollar value ) from a finite amount of personally available disposable income relative to this casino visit , visits to other casinos , other gambling options , and other free time and disposable income options . Casinos need to increase involvement when playing the game or machine . Efficiency initiatives have reduced player involvement . It may be time to consider the possible elasticity of allowing cards to be handled , removing the shoes on card games , putting the “ ka-chunk ” or its equivalent back into playing slots , allowing coins to be played in machines ( putting them in and hearing the payout as they hit the tray ), encouraging free play credits to be converted to cash ( to be felt / touched and shown to others ), and the like .
This is not a suggestion to return every everything back to the way it was in the ’ 50s and reversing all of the efficiency gains . Rather , it is a suggestion to consider something like a nostalgia pit of , say , six to 12 games and / or a nostalgia slot area of 25 to 50 machines that returns player involvement in one or more ways to test customer reaction incrementally and evolutionarily .
It is also not to say the price / cost of playing that game / machine has to stay the same . Adjustments may need to be made to retain financial performance . It behooves a casino to always promote a sense of winning by ensuring that by the end of a casino visit the player leaves a winner , has been a winner , and / or has seen other players win sometime during their visit .
The larger casinos have become , the more difficult this has become . The taller the slot machines , EGM , ETG , progressive meters , and signage in general , the more difficult it becomes to see , hear or feel a sense of winning . Good physical configuration and sight lines , use of light / sound and technology to act as proxies of winning and winners , and use of video and vid-walls to announce / track winners can be part of the process of creating and promoting a sense of winning . Existing tracking technology can be expanded to cover more games , machines and areas and more visual / audio ways of projecting “ winning ” sprinkled around the gaming areas and the casino . More conscious , proactive thought needs to be applied to promoting a sense of winning in modern-era casinos .
Some players complain that their playing time has decreased over the years . It has . This is due to casinos increasing game speed in a multitude of
It behooves a casino to always promote a sense of winning by ensuring that by the end of a casino visit the player leaves a winner , has been a winner , and / or has seen other players win sometime during their visit . ways , most without informing the customers but not “ hiding it ” either , but not giving anything of value to the player in return .
Casinos may want to consider probing whether there is elasticity in giving back some of the playing time it has eroded away to select target market services . If they do so , casinos may want this time to promote this change , not hide it .
Casinos may even want to help players choose games and machines that are slower than their counterparts .
Note that another way to extend time value is to extend non-gaming time by providing indoor areas in otherwise “ dead spots ,” with couches and chairs , television sets , places to play cards with friends , and / or outdoors around a pool or overlooking a view for this purpose .
Encouraging use of dining , bar , lounge , entertainment , recreation , relaxation and other non-gaming activities will also add “ time .” Doing so would amortize the casino playing time across a longer trip time and increase the time value in the process .
Perks , Discounts , Awards and Other Benefits
Loyalty clubs , signed comps , and / or property perks , promotions , and other benefits can be used to keep your property “ sticky .”
Demand stimulation marketing initiatives , or DSMIs , have the potential to reduce the cost of a casino visit and thereby increase dollars-spent value — and / or , particularly when delivered human to human , have the potential to personalize and humanize the overall casino visit TGE , thereby increasing both time- and dollars-spent value .
Periodically , but definitely when conducting a “ fun audit ,” it would benefit most casinos to take a zero-based review of the efficacy of current DSMI personalization initiatives and to probe the elasticity of deepening and broadening the use of them .
Increase Human Contact With Your Customers
Except for the VVIPs and VIPs where human-to-human contact is still high , the personalization of giving perks , discounts , awards and benefits has been slowly but relentlessly eviscerated by technology and other efficiency initiatives . For many , the fun of interacting with a real casino exec , host or representative is missed .
Casinos would do well to periodically take a zero-based review of their human-to-human protocols to see where more human involvement would be accretive .
Create Physical Environments that Align Player with NWEs
For time immemorial , casinos have been conceptualized and configured essentially as “ one big room .” As casinos have gone from small to meta-sized , the utility of this approach has been strained . Primarily because , as currently executed , most large main casino areas are homogenous , they do not provide a sufficiently diverse range of activities and / or environments to align with the
24 CASINO STYLE 2020