## Digital Triumph Strategies: Brick-and-Mortar Casinos – iGB
An increasing number of American gambling establishments are venturing into the digital realm, not only to generate profits and expand their market reach sustainably, but also to confront the challenge presented by social casinos. Alana Levine of Income Access Group engaged in conversations with some of the most successful project leaders to gain further insights.
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**Digital Triumph Strategies: Brick-and-Mortar Casinos**
Based on Statista data, there are currently over 1,500 physical casinos situated within the United States. This translates to one casino for every 155,000 individuals. To provide context, France boasts the highest concentration of land-based casinos with 189, signifying one casino for every 265,000 people. Taking into account the population disparity between the two nations, the American casino market exhibits almost double the competitiveness compared to France’s, and this intensity is only escalating. In such a fiercely competitive landscape, maintaining a stable business, ensuring profitability, and sustainably expanding market share represent common obstacles for casino proprietors and managers. This rivalry has intensified further as social casinos capture an increasingly larger portion of the market.
A typical casino predicament is how to boost profit influence with restricted resources and funds. In the United States, numerous physical casinos, irrespective of scale or market share, have tackled this obstacle by introducing diverse digital social casino offerings.
This encompasses the Pennsylvania-based Penn National Gaming, which possesses 26 casino properties across 18 states; FireKeepers Casino Hotel in Battle Creek, Michigan; Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California; Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut; and the Nevada-based American Casino and Entertainment Properties (ACEP) group.
Beyond their own ingenuity and distinctiveness, we can pinpoint several commonalities in their methodologies, as well as several key takeaways we can glean and adjust from.
Plainly define your digital objectives
A shared theme among all the properties mentioned above is establishing realistic and quantifiable goals for their social casino products. For Doug Burr, Internet Marketing Manager, and Don Casper, Vice President of Marketing at Fantasy Springs, their main impetus was acquisition and retention: “Our aim is to stay ahead of the competition and cultivate customer loyalty. Since launching in September, we have surpassed our break-even point and generated a stable revenue stream for the property.”
Mohegan Sun Casino has reported remarkable success with their social gaming platform over the past half year. Beyond generating substantial income from their social casino, they’ve effectively engaged users from their existing customer base, not only encouraging them to play their preferred games, but also driving increased visits to their physical location. The team at Pennsylvania State Gaming recognized a significant opportunity they were overlooking. “HollywoodCasino.com functions as a customer retention and loyalty tool, as well as a customer acquisition channel for the brick-and-mortar business through new player sign-ups and reactivated players. We’ve witnessed very encouraging outcomes in both our online and offline casinos,” stated John Worthington, iGaming Product Manager.
Two establishments that successfully transitioned through multiple offerings provided contrasting viewpoints. When launching their new social casino network product and application ten months ago, Jim Wise, Vice President of Marketing at FireKeepers Casino, aimed to expand the casino’s brand energy and excitement to customers’ computers or mobile devices. “From the outset, we remained focused on providing a high-quality experience in a stable environment. The extra revenue is a welcome bonus.”
Alec Driscoll, the Game Development Director at ACEP, needed to find a solution that matched the real estate group’s vision for the space. Their secondary goal was to discover a product that could generate income for the group’s expanding customer base.
**Comprehending Your Target Market**
It’s futile to release and promote a product that doesn’t connect with your target audience or fulfill their requirements. A key element of success is not only analyzing consumption habits but also evaluating how your clientele consume media and content, and how they currently decide to spend their entertainment funds.
Chris Sheffield, Senior Vice President and General Manager of iGaming at Penn State Gaming, led this exploration through consumer research of their current customer base. The team discovered that over 40% of customers were already engaging in social games, so launching a Hollywood Casino social product was a natural next step.
Jim Wise at FireKeepers Casino examined their land-based property offerings and customer interests. “The property is only 80% slots, meaning there’s still an opportunity to cater to the remaining 15-20% of the audience who prefer table games. In the long run, we’ll aim to diversify the product to meet the demand.”
Moreover, considering their core audience of older adults, nearly all properties chose to launch web-based products alongside mobile products, finding greater success through this channel.
Driscoll stated, “The most significant increase in our sign-ups and purchasers is still coming from non-mobile networks.” “This is because we haven’t formally advertised to highlight the mobile offering, which also reflects the type of audience we’re drawing in.”
The size of the team is not a deciding factor.
A crucial factor for all gambling establishments when releasing their social offerings is team resources, who will oversee the product and customer service, as well as promote the product? Some casinos, like the Pennsylvania State Gaming Company, only employed one worker at launch and expanded to nine full-time employees within six months, plus a dedicated IT professional.
Other establishments, like Dream Springs, continue to be managed by a single team; Doug Burr oversees the digital aspects of their property and social casino products, from email marketing to search engine optimization. ACEP’s Alec Driscoll suggested that his team size would increase with the performance of his product. “Currently the team has five members, and we’ll add two more in the next 60 days. We began with just one internal supporter, then expanded to three as we prepared for our free poker offering, and then to five.”
Utilizing effective strategies to enhance efficiency
A comprehensive marketing approach has also brought together all of the aforementioned establishments, which is considered a key factor in their success. As a property group, the Pennsylvania State Gaming Company’s team relies on insights from each property.
Weve observed our establishments modify their promotional materials to adjust the message for regional markets. Electronic mail and digital marketing channels have been our most effective channels thus far, he stated. For the ACEP team, the most successful endeavors so far have been collaborating with properties and providing concrete opportunities, such as bonus chips and purchase matching. “There’s significant value in incorporating property information. They have brand loyalty with our establishments and there’s a connection,” Driscoll explained. “For instance, we offer complimentary slot play for sign-ups and are currently preparing for a launch across all properties, including property signage, electronic mail campaigns, and player gatherings.”
In other words, don’t be afraid to experiment. Driscoll and his team have tested free bingo game retention campaigns that “have produced excellent returns and have provided many online database access to the property.” Fountain of Dreams has expanded its electronic mail database 17 times in three years by implementing incentive campaigns such as free T-shirts and $5 electronic mail sign-up bonuses.
Establishing Meaningful Objectives
Be practical when setting objectives and comprehend the resources required to attain them. Utilize metrics that are simple to measure. Some metrics are standard for social products, including daily active users (DAU), monthly active users (MAU), average revenue per daily active user (ARPDAU), and lifetime player value.
Real estate organizations, such as the Pennsylvania State Lottery Group, are also examining other digital aspects, such as the “K-factor,” which represents the expansion rate of the customer base. This metric is determined by multiplying the number of invites sent to each customer by the conversion rate.
The traditional side of real estate employs conventional metrics like new player card registrations, overall customer value, and reactivation properties. The ACEP team focuses on similar measurements, such as unique logins and the frequency and value of wagers. Driscoll particularly highlights the importance of finding straightforward methods
to guarantee that products align with your objectives. “If your aim is to stimulate property visits, then attract individuals who are likely to do so.”
Utilizing time to gauge success is a fundamental component of the goal-setting process mentioned by the Dream Springs and Fire Keeper teams. “Our objective for November (within a three-month timeframe) was to break even on the product and attain a specific number of downloads, and we have achieved that,”
stated Casper of Dream Springs.
Be Ready for Obstacles
Whether it involves finding ways to educate core customers or learning how to market new products and assess their success, there will undoubtedly be hurdles. Occasionally, the true secret to success lies in conquering these challenges.
One lesson we can glean from all these properties is that there is no universal solution to operating social casino products. The key to achieving success lies in executing the fundamentals effectively.
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