The pandemic brought other challenges as well .
“ Covid changed people ’ s attitude to work ,” he says . “ And I think a lot of people who would have had their first job in a bar , didn ’ t go into hospitality . That ’ s going to take a few years to work through . But thankfully people like what we do and we ’ re fully staffed .” The gaming at the Hippodrome is quite diverse . “ We ’ ve got 35 gaming tables and 18 poker tables ,” he says . “ We ’ ve currently also got 20 gaming machines , and 145 electronic roulette terminals at a lower price point than the live tables . Obviously , we ’ ll reduce some of those when we add the additional slot machines . But we ’ ve got plenty of space to play with to place the new slots .”
In addition to those improvements , Thomas has recently added a Chinese restaurant called Chop Chop , which has earned rave reviews from London foodies , plus a café . He has also refurbished the Hippodrome cocktail bar on the first floor , now called Permission . And Thomas says he ’ s creating a secret bar in the basement of the casino , the details about which , he is cagey .
“ I can ’ t tell you about it because then it wouldn ’ t be secret ,” he laughs .
Creating the Magic
With the Hippodrome being in the heart of London ’ s theater district , five years ago Thomas added the Magic Mike Live show to the offerings of the casino , and he says that has made a very positive difference .
“ The biggest change to the demographics at the Hippodrome has been Magic Mike Live . Each week we get 3,000 people attending , predominantly 18-to-50-year-old women .
“ The demographics have always been incredibly wide at the Hippodrome because we ’ ve got such a wide range of products and attractions , but it was still predominantly men . Magic Mike Live has helped address the balance and show we cater to everybody .”
Magic Mike Live is presented in on the former stage platform of the original Victorian theater — with a high-tech inner core of sound and lighting . It holds only 325 people . It ’ s very intimate , and every seat in the house is great , says Thomas . The show is approaching its 2,000th performance and still sells out , delivering profit , PR , awareness and acceptability . “ I ’ ve seen the show dozens of times , and I love it every single time . It ’ s funny . It ’ s sexy , clever , sassy and a lot of fun .” Although the U . K . has had sports betting for years , Thomas says one of the changes proposed in the White Paper , allowing casinos to offer sports betting , will allow casinos to finally capitalize on that kind of wagering .
“ We show every sports game live and we do particularly well with American sports in our sports bar ,” he says . “ Because of the time zone difference , most of the sports bars in London are closed when a lot of the American sports are on . We are open and we are definitely the best place in London to watch NFL , because we ’ re open 24 / 7 . We also stream some of the ultimate fighting and boxing from Vegas as well . And then we ’ re building up our hockey , basketball , baseball coverage as well .”
Thomas admits that it ’ s not likely to be a big revenue driver , but it is another amenity to bring people into the Hippodrome .
“ The reality is a lot of people , particularly in the U . K ., use an app for sports betting ,” he says , “ so it is not likely to be a big earner . But it ’ s part of the showmanship of the property . We ’ ve already turned our lower ground casino , Lola ’ s , into a sports bar in anticipation of more people coming to the property to watch and bet on sports . It has a 10-meter screen and nine very large plasma screens , so can show a lot of sports simultaneously .”
And like many U . S . casinos , the Hippodrome has an online gaming site , with live dealer games as well as the omnipresent slot games . He says the site is very popular because of the Hippodrome brand .
“ We ’ ve also taken Evolution ’ s online Lightning Roulette , and made a live casino version in the Hippodrome . The project is in its infancy , but I ’ m really excited for that product ,” Thomas explains . “ Roulette in a live casino environment works . The fun of the game and the excitement of a live casino combine to make a great experience .
“ However , when you take the excitement of the live casino away from the roulette game , and restrict it to a screen , it can be a little bit flat . Evolution very cleverly brought a game show-type approach to online roulette with Lightning Roulette , and more volatility with 500-to-1 jackpots . I wanted to
24 Global Gaming Business MARCH 2024