It’s G2E time again, the annual whirl of thousands of flashing slot machines on demo mode, celebrities, free T-shirts, seminars, presentations and seemingly endless parties.
Along the way, there will be plenty to learn, much of it beyond the new games and gizmos.
For example, what do industry leaders have to say? Once again, Fantini Research will be conducting video interviews with leading CEOs who will talk about the future of their enterprises and take the pulse of the gaming industry. Those interviews will be posted starting Monday, October 14 at www.FantiniResearch.com, under the Conventions tab and G2E 2019.
Another hot topic is the one that has been the hot topic for more than a year—sports betting.
Obviously, on the G2E exhibit floor, companies like IGT and Scientific Games will be touting their sports betting platforms and expertise.
However, another question will be what we expect will be the explosion in betting thanks to in-game mobile wagering.
Mobile betting is in its infancy in the US, yet already is showing its potential. Chris Grove of Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, for example, notes that mobile, principally powered by Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, already accounts for more than 60 percent of nationwide handle.
That should rise to 70 percent to 75 percent as Rhode Island, Indiana, Tennessee, Oregon and New Hampshire come on board, he said.
In-game mobile, it seems, has the potential to greatly expand sports betting beyond its historic niche as a casino amenity and into a powerful business for operators and suppliers alike.
Another topic that deserves discussion is cashless gaming. The old regulatory arguments against cashless gaming are falling given the evidence that technology now makes cashless gaming a friend, not a foe, of responsible gambling as every transaction is recorded and gambling exclusions for individuals can be enforced.
Perhaps more important to its implementation is that society is rapidly going cashless and a gaming industry demanding play be with cash would be as out of date as a horse and buggy on a Formula One circuit.
The fact is that cashless is coming much to the relief of casinos, which now expensively tie up millions upon millions of dollars on their casino floors.
One question is who will provide the cashless systems. Will it be payment companies like Everi and Global Payments, or will it be systems companies like IGT?
About Those Resort Fees…
The future of resort fees has been thrown into some doubt by a lawsuit that claims they equate to hidden fees.
It’s probably more accurate to say they are semi-hidden. Just a quick survey of casino hotel websites shows most of them first advertise a nightly rate and then, on a following page, show the full costs, including taxes and resort fees. In short, while they aren’t trumpeted, they aren’t hidden, either.
Given that they tend to be flat fees, resort fees are more important for raising rates at low to mid-market properties. Simply, a $35 resort fee attached to a $29 room more than doubles the room rate. That $35 fee on a $200 room is a more modest 17.5 percent boost.
Of course, fees aren’t going to be charged to customers who gamble enough. And properties can waive resort fees in promotions. In other words, there are plenty of ways to adjust pricing to maximize productivity. In the end, we suspect resort fees are here to stay and that their impact on casino hotel bottom lines has already been felt, thus is part of the stock price today.
