Las Vegas casino visitation is down, yet casino revenue is holding its own. Regional casinos have been in many markets holding their own. The economy is shaky, yet the unemployment rate remains historically good. These conflicting discussions can be confusing, but sometimes what we see in the casino can be most telling:
This morning I put $100 in a machine and played 50 cent bets. I got nothing. There are less and less people going now. Is this why?
Gaynor
We hear what you’re saying. The swings between the ups and downs on slots feel much more dramatic in recent years than it used to be. For those with more restricted budgets in particular, this can mean running out of money before anything exciting happens, and if that happens enough, it can give players the feeling casinos aren’t paying anymore, even if the data is pretty steady overall.
But as our editor in chief Josh shared in a recent post, the opposite will periodically be true too – he got two Major jackpots in a week, and four in a year, after many years where he was lucky to get one in a year. When you’re a low bettor and win thousands of dollars in progressives, that will have an impact on things as well.
We’ve seen fatigue from some players with how games have evolved. But the economic conditions we’re facing here in the U.S. appear to be affecting some more than others as well, and it’s quite possible much of any change in visitation could be related to that.
If a player isn’t having as much fun, and they’re also facing a period of time where they need to be a bit more careful with their spending, it’s easy to see what could be cut from a budget when there’s less discretionary spending money available.
We continue to see busy casino scenarios – a recent trip to Vegas showed casinos that were far from dead, despite some news reports – but it wouldn’t surprise us if visitation, at least in some markets beyond Vegas, is down or will trend down, a scenario not unusual when economic times get more uncertain.
Whether the more volatile direction of slots are a part of this too is less clear, and may take more time to shake out. If players don’t return to the same level as times get better, that might be a sign there’s more to play than short term economic outlooks.
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We’re retired penny slot fans. We bet high when we can afford it, but keep bets low when our budget is tight. Used to be you could put in your $20, bet just a few cents per spin to play all paylines. Now most machines require a minimum of 50 cents for a single spin (therefore fewer spins for your $20), or $1+ to play all paylines. Also, so many games are now the kind where you have to fill a pot with many coins just to play a bonus, or fill three vessels to trigger. Not so much fun now. We play for entertainment yet feel so lucky when we hit a higher-paying bonus so that we can continue to play for a few hours.
We so badly want to make a “Keeping up with the Joneses” joke :)
You’re describing exactly the sorts of conditions we’ve been seeing, and where players with certain budget levels are effectively being priced out of things now, which is a shame.
There are a boatload of reasons why casino visitation is down.
1. Most importantly – there are casinos in 44 states now.
2. Seven states(Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia) have online casinos.
3. Most people don’t have as much disposable incomes as they used to.
4. The Casinos are charging too much for resort fees et al.
We hear you Jason, but on the other side most of these issues have pre-dated the current decline, which is why the timing is more interesting to discuss!
I stop going with all the new machines, the food prices out of control, resort fees. It’s all about the money. They make plenty of money just from the gambling, but when you try to get a burger it’s over $20 bucks. You can sit at a slot and you hardly win any small jackpots to keep you playing. So people just walk away. With the old machines we used to play quarter machines and hit little jackpots and we would stay and play for a couple of hours. We kept feeding the machines but we didn’t lose it in 10 to 15 minutes. We know we aren’t going to win big but they have taken the fun out of it. I hope they are losing money. If they changed some things I would go back.
Definitely some food for thought for the casinos to consider the changing experience and what that means to players.