Atlantic City casinos have launched targeted marketing efforts at Asian gamblers for more than 15 years, but as casino revenue keep falling in the resort, those efforts are heating up and becoming more competitive.
Nearly every Atlantic City casino has a marketing team working to attract Asian gamblers. For Atlantic City, those customers come predominantly from New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
A recent report in the local Press of Atlantic City outlined some of the recent efforts.
Caesars Entertainment, for example, recently made the websites for its four Atlantic City properties available in Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese.
Also, Golden Nugget Atlantic City recently hired an international marketing team to focus on Asian customers, the paper reported.
Tariq Shaukat, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Caesars Entertainment, told the Press that marketing towards Asian gamblers requires attention to personal details.
“The Asian market is the one that’s growing the fastest, and it has been for quite some time,” Shaukat told the Press. “You really have to think about becoming part of the community. The consumer wants to know that you’re really doing something different and personalized to what they want.”
Atlantic City casinos try to offer gamblers a complete experience, including shows with Chinese or Vietnamese performers and Asian restaurant offerings. But Shaukat said little things such as offering tea pots in rooms rather than coffee pots also make a difference.
“Our entire market approach at Caesars is grounded in trying to persuade the persuade-able. If someone is really not interested in visiting Atlantic City, let’s not spend time talking to them,” Shaukat said. “You want to go where the markets are growing and not overly obsess with the markets that are shrinking.”
Many casinos also have Asian-themed gambling areas.
Tropicana Casino and Resort, for example, has an area titled Jade Place that offers games popular with Asian gamblers such as mini baccarat, pai gow poker and pai gow tiles.
Tropicana also tailors event prizes, giveaways, tournaments and entertainment to Asian interests.
“At the end of the day, we’re all just trying to find business and drive business. I think we differentiate ourselves because of the variety of things you can do at this property that you can’t do at smaller properties, with our restaurants and entertainment,” Eric Fiocco Tropicana’s vice president of marketing told the paper. “Asian gambling is a big piece of the table business. It’s very competitive, and everyone wants the same customer.”
