Trying to help the gaming industry get its arms around the onslaught of sports betting, Eilers & Krejcik Gaming did a consumer survey of the newly legitimate recreation. “For all of the hype surrounding the spread of regulated sportsbooks, there’s still a massive amount of ambiguity around how Americans will actually interact with legal sports betting,” said agency co-director Chris Grove. Eilers & Krejcik surveyed 3,000 people, covering “hundreds of data points” on the sports betting issue.
For instance, 93% of respondents had bet on the NFL at some point in the past year. Only 45% are
“extremely satisfied” with their current betting experience but 27% were already wagering on e-sports, which continues to shape up as a growth industry. There’s a high level of comfort in betting at casinos (70%) or through professional teams (66%), so the legitimate gaming establishment has an opportunity to wean customers away from black-market bookies. State lotteries were trusted by only 47% and DFS brought up the rear with 42%.
Interested non-bettors (those who don’t bet now but would consider it) are mostly female: 61%. There’s a demographic to cultivate, Bill Miller. These non-betters mostly trust lotteries (68%) with DFS again far to the rear (11%). Casinos sit in the middle, trusted by 50%. Clearly, the gaming industry has its work cut out for it, first, persuading these people to bet and, second, to do it with Big Gaming. Good luck and we mean that sincerely.
* The Quapaw Tribe didn’t perform its due diligence when choosing a site for Saracen Casino in Arkansas. All businesses in Pine Bluff must be smoke-free, a regulation that gets in Saracen’s eyes. City Council member Ivan Whitfield said that the tribe would have chosen another site had it known about the no-smoking rule (yes, and the dog ate their homework). “Gambling, drinking, and smoking goes together. It’s just that way,” he rationalized. The Quapaw, for their part, emphasized the virtues of their HVAC system, which recirculates air every 1o minutes.
Katherine Donald, of the Coalition for a Tobacco Free Arkansas was not impressed. “We don’t believe, in the state of Arkansas, that a worker should have to jeopardize their health to earn a living,” she fumed. Councilor Bruce Lockett came down on her side, saying that a casino should respect the need for both patrons and employees to be healthy. His trump card was that 800 casinos nationwide are smoke-free, a statistic that moved him to say, “there is not a strong argument that smoke-free casinos do not make money.” Smoking backers, in turn, pointed to a 21% revenue bite taken out of Illinois‘ casinos when smoking was banned. But if patrons habituated to a smoke-free environment, will that danger ever arise?
* August gaming revenues in Macao were ‘blah’ by Macanese standards, down 8.5% where analysts expected -3%. Revenue was $98 million per day and September is historically even weaker. However, thanks to 2018’s Typhoon Mangkhut-related closures, Deutsche Bank‘s Carlo Santarelli is predicting +3% this year.
* Battered by weeks of negative headlines (including some here), MGM Springfield isn’t taking it lying down. It’s hiring dealers this week, a new emphasis on table games in a casino whose slot performance has been less than stellar.
* To sell or not to sell? With name-brand gaming stocks in freefall, Frank Fantini has his alter egos, The Bull and The Bear duke it out. I think he favors a wait-and-see approach but am less than persuaded.
* If you feel like spending 45 minutes with Encore Boston Harbor President Robert DeSalvio, he’ll take you through the birth pangs of the U.S.’s newest megaresort.
