At Mystic Lake in Prior Lake, party-style “cosmic blackjack” attracts a younger crowd on Friday and Saturday nights, with streaming ESPN games, flashing disco lights flash and popular contemporary music. Partyers can board a free shuttle to Canterbury Park racetrack in nearby Shakopee offering a 24-hour Card Casino. Company records indicate the percentage of players under 30 years old has steadily increased at the racino since 2013; two-thirds of them gamble at table games.
To attract younger players who have grown up on interactive games on their smartphones, author and casino scholar Dave Palermo said casinos must “rethink their casino floor.” Many operations are doing exactly that. For example, Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut recently opened a tattoo parlor. Las Vegas visitors can ride the world’s tallest, LED-lit Ferris wheel. Atlantic City slots are inspired by smartphone games like “Angry Birds” and “Words with Friends.”
In Minnesota, tribal casinos are luring younger players with table games, as well as spas, fitness centers and entertainment that appeals to millennials rather than baby boomers. John McCarthy, executive director of the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association, said, “Kids are growing up today where practically everything they do is electronic, and they’re really well-versed with that. They want more and more, and in Minnesota, there’s only so much we can offer, but I think we’re holding our share of the market in how we do off of that.”
Typically 80-90 percent of Minnesota’s tribal casinos’ revenue comes from slots, noted gaming industry economist Alan Meister. He said the state’s tribal casinos generated $1.5 billion in 2014; nationwide, tribal casinos drew $28.9 billion in revenue. Non-gaming amenities grew at about twice the rate a gaming.
At Mystic Lake in Prior Lake, party-style “cosmic blackjack” attracts a younger crowd on Friday and Saturday nights, with streaming ESPN games, flashing disco lights flash and popular contemporary music. Partyers can board a free shuttle to Canterbury Park racetrack in nearby Shakopee offering a 24-hour Card Casino. Company records indicate the percentage of players under 30 years old has steadily increased at the racino since 2013; two-thirds of them gamble at table games.
McCarthy noted vendors increasingly offer electronic games with that feature more “bells and whistles” and require some skill. “You can play like three games on one machine at one time,” he said. Still, a 2013 American Gaming Association survey found players between ages 21 and 35 are more likely to name blackjack as their favorite casino game—not slots. Also, these young players are more likely to take part in non-gambling activities.
National trends in general at commercial casinos have shown players of all ages have “less interest in slot gaming and more interest in amenities,” like food and drink or entertainment, said Alex Bumazhny, a financial analyst at Fitch Ratings who studies gambling. “It remains to be seen whether millennials will gamble to the same extent as the older generation,” Bumazhny said.
Ed Stevenson, president and chief executive officer of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community gaming enterprise, said more gathering spaces are a priority, so the tribe offers the Drinx Lounge, the Lobby Lounge, other pop-up lounges and an outdoor patio that hosts special events at Canterbury Park. Mystic Lake will open a new hotel and convention center next year and is about to release its first mobile app.
Even at Canterbury Park, Vice President of Casino Operations Michael Hochman noted, “Poker is fun,” despite its primary business of horse racing. The racino attracts dedicated poker players and recently hosted women-only seminars to explain the game in a “non-threatening atmosphere,” Hochman said. The venue also offers more outdoor parties and added Craft Spirits events.
In a unique twist, Hochman noted previously the rule was, “You can’t have a cellphone at the table. Now it would be unusual for you not to have it.” In fact, he pointed out, poker players now may charge devices at outlet-equipped tables and many players enhance their entertainment with tablets or cellphones.
