Question of the Day - 27 September 2022

In yesterday's answer to the question about the background of the social-media slot-influencer thing, we introduced Brian Christopher, currently the most popular of the breed, of whom there are several others. Today, we provide an inside view of the life of a slot influencer. We sat down Christopher, who spoke with LVA from his home in California.

When and how did you first become interested in slots?

Basically, from the first that I was legal to play slots [laughs]. I’ve always been fascinated by playing slot machines and gambling in general. Of course, not to the extent that I am today, but when I was 19 and living in Canada, I made my first trip to the casinos.

What gave you the idea of marrying slot play with YouTube? And were casinos resistant at first?

At the very beginning, I didn't have any plan to make this into a hobby or career. It kind of happened by accident. I was planning a trip to Vegas for the first time, so I went to YouTube to find out where to stay and play and what games to play and I came across a few videos of people recording their game play. I thought, “Oh, that’s fun.”

I got suckered into watching them for a long time, then made a couple myself. I uploaded them to my YouTube channel. I was an actor at the time and the channel was meant for my acting, but the slot videos took off.

In the beginning, casinos weren't open to filming much, but my channel grew very fast and that caught the attention of a few casinos. Yamaava [formerly San Manuel] was the first I partnered with and was very open to allowing filming in their casino. They were super-forward-thinking when it came to social media. That definitely helped me get my start.

What kind of feedback did you get from slot manufacturers?

They were shocked and wowed and loved it. They all wished they’d come up with the idea themselves. It was free advertising, basically, for them.

Some manufacturers will pay groups to test their machines, give them feedback, just to find out how people like their slot machines. They bring in maybe 20 people at a time. But it could be a little biased, as people are getting paid for it, whereas I’ll post one video playing their games and millions of people will see it, and they’ll get comments and feedback immediately from our fans about what they do and don't like about the games. So manufacturers love it. The creators of the games are in love with it. They absolutely adore these videos, because they get to see the impact not only of their games, but everyone’s games, with feedback and everything.

At what point would you say you became an influencer of slot fans?

Honestly, there’re different levels of influencing. There’s a micro-influencer with just a hundred subscribers. Even if one person watches your video, you can be seen as influencing people’s choices to play a certain game or visit a certain casino. I didn't consider myself one for probably the first six months to a year, as my channel began to grow and hit into the thousands of subscribers. My first agreement with a casino came around the one-year mark. That’s what solidified it for me as, yes, that’s what I’m doing.

How much time and money per week do you put into slot play?

I go to a different casino in a different state every week. Typically, we arrive on a Tuesday and stay right through ’til Sunday. I’m not playing that whole time. I typically play for two to three of those days. The other days, I hosting events for fans. My coin-in changes per day per video. I just shot one video where I put in $1,000. The next video I might throw in $10,000. It all depends on what I want to shoot that day and whether I want to play a high-limit game where I’m challenged. That really determines what I put in.

The annual revenue of your YouTube channel has been estimated at anywhere from $25K a year to $398K. Which figure is more accurate?

[laughs] Well, I’m not going to get into how much money I make, but it definitely covers my gambling losses, I’ll tell you that much. We work really hard and I employ 10. It’s enough to cover people’s salaries.

How did parlay a YouTube feed into a slot salon at the Plaza?

It was a great partnership. We'd already worked with Plaza. The CEO, Jonathan Jossel, asked me, “What’s coming up next for BC Slots?” I kind of joked with him. “Maybe a Brian Christopher high-limit room or something like that.” The next day, I had an email from him saying, “Let’s make this room happen. Let’s figure this out.” Honestly, it happened really fast. It was like three or four months later that we pulled it all together. I got my favorite games in that area and it’s been a huge success. Now they’re building an expansion to the casino, which will be our new Brian Christopher Slots at Plaza area and also the very first smoke-free gaming area in all of downtown Vegas.

What was the genesis of the Brian Christopher-themed slot?

It’s super-exciting and it’s performing very well, so we’re proud of it. I’ve always had a dream of having a slot machine. I wasn’t sure if it would ever come to fruition. Luckily, Gaming Arts approached us with the idea of making a sequel to one of the themes I already love and thought it would be a perfect marriage. They were awesome partners to work with. I gave them tons of ideas. They basically allowed me free range to do whatever I wanted in the game that was mathematically possible. Right down to the wire. Three days before launch, I made one more tweak to the game and they were on board. So we’re very very happy and lucky, and we’re hearing that some casinos are reporting that our games are performing at four times the floor average.

So you actually had a lot of creative input.

I had 100 percent creative input and there were just one or two things that we couldn’t put into the game mathematically, because it was a little too complicated or would have been too hard to do. But we’ll save those ideas for the next ones.

Why do people find it so fascinating to watch someone else play a slot machine?

We definitely have the most engaged fans on our channel. We involve them in everything we do on our Facebook page and YouTube channel. We have over five million unique viewers every month who are there for the journey and I include them when I’m playing slots. We’re always talking about "us" winning, not just Brian winning. And I host events every single week, which brings them together. So we’ve been able to create a really great community. It’s the biggest community there is for slots. 

It’s really no different from asking, “Why would you watch a sports team play? Why wouldn’t you just play sports?” Or “Why would you watch poker on TV?”

The number-one channels on YouTube are gamers playing video games or watching kids play with toys. It’s getting the experience that you want to feel, then feeling it through them. That’s what makes it fun and exciting, especially for us as a gambling channel. We’re making big bets of $100 or sometimes $200 a spin. For people who are used to spending 50 cents a spin, this is a great opportunity to see those and be a part of them.

It’s also learning how to play slot machines. A lot of people are scared, because the slot machines these days are very different from what they used to be. They’re super-complicated. So rather than people walking by those machines, when they see me playing, the next time they go to a casino and recognize that game, they know exactly how it works. They know how to get the bonus, what to look for in the game. And they feel comfortable playing it. They’re super-engaged and they want to know everything about it. And us.