The Casino Player of the Future

For a generation of movie buffs, Blockbuster was the place to go for flicks. At its peak, the video rental giant had 65 million members and was valued at $3 billion.

In 2000, an upstart called Kibble offered to grow Blockbuster’s budding online business. In a pivotal move, the market leader not only declined, but for a split second partnered with Enron (!) to develop its video-on-demand service.

The rest is history: By 2010, Blockbuster had dwindled from more than 9,000 stores to just one, in Bend, Oregon (it’s still there, by the way). And Kibble—now Netflix—grew into the world’s largest streaming service, with 300 million global subscribers and projected revenue of more than $40 billion this year.

There’s a moral in the story for all businesses, especially in times of whirlwind change: Adapt or die.

Survival of the Fittest

Volumes have been written about the demise of Blockbuster: It was complacent, didn’t keep pace with changing customer preferences, and underestimated innovators in the space. It was too big to fail, and so failed in spectacular fashion.

With the ongoing tech revolution, many industries are at similar crossroads—including gaming. While the casino business is going strong—in 2024, U.S. commercial operations broke revenue records for the fourth year—the growth was largely driven by digital. Land-based gaming revenue rose just 0.8 percent, while online casinos and sportsbooks were up 29 percent and 34 percent, respectively.

Those verticals continue to expand. Only eight states host legal online casinos, but a dozen more have legislation on the docket. Legal mobile sports betting, in 31 states, will grow as states look for new things to tax.

The digital wave could be retail gaming’s Achilles heel, according to player development specialist Nick Ippolito. “Online gaming is the absolute future and the No. 1 threat,” he says. “When online gaming is approved in other states, it’s going to be like a dam breaking—another wave that we’re not ready for.”

Industry veteran Buddy Frank, CEO of BF Slot Strategies, is more upbeat. “I’m a baby boomer, and when I was young, everybody said, ‘Oh, gambling’s going to die because all those World War II guys who love craps will be gone.’ But ours turned out to be the golden age of gambling.”

Same with poker. “All the old farts in the poker rooms said, ‘Online poker is going to kill us.’ But once it came along, live poker rooms boomed like never before, including the World Series of Poker. I think brick-and-mortar casinos will do just fine when online gaming booms.”

Who’s right? Is this the end of an era, or the dawn of a new one? In an age where every type of entertainment is (or will be) available online, how can land-based properties compete?

Hot Slots

Baby boomers have long been the bread-and-butter casino demographic, with slot play contributing more than half of revenue. According to a BetMGM blog, older players love “less skill-intensive games” and “value the communal atmosphere of casinos, where they can socialize and reminisce.” This generation has both the leisure time and discretionary income to regularly patronize the neighborhood casino.

But the youngest boomers are now in their early 60s, and the oldest are nearing 80. As the segment ages out, will their kids and grandkids step in to replace them?

Frank says they will, eventually. “When I was young, we looked at all the blue-hairs and went, ‘God, we don’t want to be in a place like that.’ And guess where all my contemporaries ended up? In casinos.”

Even old-lady slots are changing to attract players weaned on arcade games. “Look at a machine like Dragon Link,” says Frank. “The graphics are incredible, there are all kinds of bonuses. It’s the difference between an early video game like Pong and the latest version of Call of Duty. The machines are just more interesting—they have to be, because that younger generation is asking for more.”

Slot influencers like Brian Christopher and Lady Luck HQ, both in their 40s, regularly showcase the fun and excitement of the casino floor, presumably enticing millions of followers to go for the real thing.

Gamification—adding elements of skill plus social interaction to slots—also boosts engagement. And brand integration turns the games into extensions of pop culture, which is always generational. Older players may gravitate to an Elvis or Michael Jackson slot. Millennials might go for Seinfeld, Friends or Sex & the City. For Gen Z, there’s Game of Thrones, CSI and Breaking Bad, among many other titles.

Wide World of Sports Betting

Even before U.S. states sanctioned mobile sports betting, fantasy leagues introduced millions of fans to the concept of wagering. The trick is driving visitation to the brick-and-mortar counterpart, then delivering an experience that will bring them back.

Circa Sports in Las Vegas may be the one to beat. “Derek Stevens, who’s running that place, reminds me of the earlier models of Sam Boyd and Benny Binion,” Frank says. “He has value in there. Great food. The parking garage is amazing, compared to every other parking garage that was invented in 1950. On game days, it’s just young people all over the place. You’ve got to keep your product contemporary and meet the needs of new customers.”

Sports is the ultimate “unifier,” agrees Brendan Bussmann, founder of gaming consultancy B Global. “You can turn on your TV or phone and watch almost any broadcast around the world, from college football to cornhole. Yes, there’s a generation that wants to solely look at their phone. But those people still go and do stuff. So create an experience that allows them to do both.”

Sportsbooks don’t generate big money, but “they’re one of the products that make casinos so great,” Frank says. “Entertainment, sportsbooks, betting opportunities­—whether it’s tables, slots, bingo or poker—buffets, you name it, they all enhance the player experience. The casinos that do best have a mix of everything.”

Bussmann sees room in land-based sportsbooks for “shared-reality” technology, with massive wraparound screens and spatial audio systems that make fans feel they’re at courtside, behind home plate or on the 50-yard line.

“You’re basically sitting at a bar,” Bussmann says, “but you feel like you’re on the sidelines of an NFL game.”

In a 2023 Forbes interview, SoBet CEO Cooper Lycan said digital and mobile gaming have “a leg up on their analog counterparts because the online space tends to be more inclusive… The casino of tomorrow will have to adjust to shifting consumer behaviors of an increasingly more diverse, less male-dominated audience.

“Right now, there’s not really a place for Gen Z, women and casual bettors in the ecosystem other than social media,” Lycan said. “Extending this community to the physical will be key for the future success of gambling spaces—whether that’s online or offline.”

Being There

For now, in-person gaming still dominates.

Last year, half of visitors to Las Vegas were either millennials or Gen Z, and both groups left most of their budget on the casino floor. According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, millennials (ages 29-34) spent an average of $768 on gambling versus $637 on dining and $63 on entertainment. The Gen Z crowd (up to age 28) spent $575 on gambling, $541 on F&B and $94 on concerts or other shows.

Time and money help. An estimated $84 trillion in wealth will change hands from boomers to Gen X and younger by 2045, making these young adults the richest in history. “As they get older, they’ll have more spendable and leisure income,” says Frank. “So the demographic may stay the same, but those generations will age into it.”

Cashless matters to every patron, at least as an option. According to payment technology firm CPI, casinos that accept cashless payments can see “a 20 percent uplift in spend per player and a 33 percent increase in number of transactions per visit.” Some operators estimate that 25 percent of guests who get up to use the ATM “simply end up leaving the property instead.”

Customer service isn’t negotiable, Ippolito stresses. “The way they’re building casinos all over the world, saturating the market, we’re all going after the same $500.

“If you can gamble anywhere and lose anywhere, the thing that will separate the (retail) casino from online is that experience with the dealer, that experience with the hotel receptionist,” he says. “We’re cutting corners. We’re not putting money where we need to put it, in customer service.”

A New Breed of Customer

A 2024 report from Henry Fund Research said physical casinos face intense competition “not only from within the sector but also from online gambling platforms, which offer convenience and accessibility, challenging traditional casino hotels.”

But years of Covid lockdowns, a shift to remote working and doing everything on a screen has created its own backlash, says Frank. “Coming out of the pandemic, people are seeking experiential things—going on trips, creating adventures. It’s a rebellion against being stuck on your phone or tablet or PC.”

He cites an article that contends Las Vegas “pushed its luck” building costly new hotels, only to attract “a new breed of visitor” who came for “the good quarters, food and shows,” but not the gambling.

While that’s partially true—more and more, gaming revenue comes in second to non-gaming, even in jurisdictions like Macau—the shift in consumer preferences didn’t mean the end of Sin City or the pastime of gambling, as prophesied in that article. Because it was written for the June 1955 issue of Life magazine.

The example of Blockbuster is a reminder to always anticipate change and get out in front of it, says Bussmann. “So how do you take the business of today and plan for tomorrow? There are going to be hiccups along the way, and you’re going to have a couple of missteps. But the good people in this industry are going to figure it out. They’re the ones who will continue to rise to the top.”