In the digital age, it’s become increasingly difficult to entice Millennial gamers with slot machines that look like they were probably first installed in Las Vegas 40 years ago.
Consequently, Las Vegas’s most respected gaming institutions and their marketing gurus are cooking up ways to attract the attention to an entirely new and young generation of gamers.
One possible solution is to speak to them in a language they understand — the language of video games.
“Millennials love Las Vegas, but they’re far less enamored with the casino world’s hyper-profitable lifeblood, slot machines,” The Washington Post reports. “So to hook young visitors back onto pulling the lever, the kings of the Strip are betting on a new strategy: making gambling look like a video game.”
A state Senate committee in Nevada is considering a bill that would allow casinos to add more skill-based gambling — like playing Angry Birds, but for cash — on top of the typical games of chance. And gambling’s gamemakers are modeling slots after modern-day pastimes like Facebook poker and free-to-play games, which have won huge audiences outside the casino floor.
“You have as much chance getting a millennial into slot machines as you do getting your grandmother into playing ‘Halo,’ ” David Chang, chief marketing officer for Gamblit Gaming, tells The Washington Post.” “Slots today are designed entertainment experiences, but for a completely different demographic, and that’s people who grew up with slot machines.”
Join the Conversation